Game Week 8 Predictions: Arsenal to beat Fulham at Craven Cottage

Arsenal, league leaders, face Fulham at Craven Cottage. Gunners aim to solidify top spot, while Fulham seek to avoid third straight loss. Arsenal win.

Fulham has lost their last two games in the League, are they about to make that three with rampaging Gunners in town? (Photo credit: Opta)

 Fulham vs Arsenal

Craven Cottage

5:30pm

It felt good for the Gunners to go into the break as the league leaders; they didn’t experience that even for a moment last season as Liverpool did their job from start to finish. Now the Gunners must consolidate to send signals of seriousness to the chasing pack.

Fulham isn’t in a good place, but there’s no need for the panic button yet. The Lilywhites could find Arsenal a little too strong to deal with here, but they have enjoyed solid results against the Gunners in the past on this ground. Can they do it again?

Fulham would look at their last two games, where they scored first and still lost, to see where they can improve; they didn’t score the first goal against Bournemouth until after the 70th minute, only to concede three goals before the end of the game.

Arsenal is expected to dominate this one despite Fulham averaging 51% possession this season, but their conversion rate has been really poor from the low chances created too. Marco Silva has a lot of work to do to get his team to the heights of last season.

A win could take Fulham into the top ten on the log, depending on other results this weekend, and that’s enough incentive. However, it gets easier for the Lilywhites after this one, as they travel to Newcastle next, then to Wycombe for the League Cup, and then Wolves, Everton and Sunderland afterwards.

Arsenal will be without Martin Odegaard, who joined Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz on the injury list. Noni Madueke is still some weeks away, but Piero Hincapie is expected to be on the bench, having returned to training last week.

The hosts will be without Rodrigo Muniz and Kenny Tete, with Raul Jimenez set to face a late fitness test. Bernd Leno and Alex Iwobi will once again be excited to face their former club, with Harry Wilson expected to lead the line alongside the exciting Joshua King.

For Arsenal, it’s business as usual. We expected to see a midfield of Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Ebere Eze, while Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Viktor Gyokeres are expected to complete the front three. There are loads of options for the Gunners, including Gabriel Martinelli and Max Dowman.

Any kind of result for Fulham would be a bonus, to be honest, but should Arsenal drop points here, it would once again raise questions about their title credentials. Fulham hasn’t lost three on the bounce since 2023; how will they fare here?

Verdict: Arsenal to win