Arsenal Fulham prediction 2023-08-26

Arsenal vs Fulham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-08-25 14:00.
Arsenal held firm for a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Monday night to make it two Premier League (PL) wins from two, despite playing much of the second half with ten men following Takehiro Tomiyasu’s dismissal. Mikel Arteta’s side showed the sort of resolve they’ll need if they’re to repeat last season’s title challenge, although midfielder Declan Rice admitted to “massive relief” after holding onto that win.

The Gunners’ first PL red card since 2021/22 has given manager Arteta a selection problem in defence for this game, and with JurriĂ«n Timber also a long-term injury absentee, he may yet be tempted to make a late entry into the transfer market. Even without reinforcements in defence, he’ll still hope to make it three PL wins out of three for the second consecutive campaign given they’ve lost just one of their last nine league games here (W7, D1).

It’s been a disappointing week for Fulham fans, who watched their side lose 3-0 to Brentford and learned afterwards that star striker Aleksandr Mitrović had been sold to Saudi Arabian team Al-Hilal for around £50 million. Perhaps wanting to deflect attention from a poor display, manager Marco Silva criticised the officials, claiming a penalty awarded against his side was a “clear error from the referee”.

It was another underwhelming PL London derby performance from the Cottagers to make it seven in capital clashes without success (D2, L5), but even that mediocre record pales into insignificance when considering they’ve never beaten Arsenal away from home (D6, L25)! Fulham are nevertheless seeking a second successive victory ‘to nil’ on the road in PL action, having opened their campaign with a 1-0 win at Everton.

Players to watch: With his match-winning penalty against Palace, Martin Ødegaard has now scored six of his last nine goals against London clubs, including one in this fixture last term, while Bukayo Saka (G1, A1 in all games this season) will beat Paul Merson’s Arsenal record of 82 consecutive PL appearances if he features. Fulham’s RaĂșl JimĂ©nez is yet to get off the mark for his new club but he did score a second-half equaliser here for Wolves in 2019/20.

Hot stat: Arsenal are undefeated across the last PL 37 games in which they scored first (W33, D4).