There is always a lot of anticipation ahead of the dreaded busy Christmas schedule, and looking at the fixtures that have been changed for the TV stations today it made me look closer at our future fixtures, as Christmas is looming closer every day….
Fulham vs Arsenal 1-5 – Match Report & Ratings by Hackinubee
This (in my opinion) was one of the best (if not the best) performances of the Unai Emery’s era, where although Fulham were on top for some minutes at the start of the match, we were quick to get into the game (unlike previous matches where we wait till the second half), and we were duly rewarded when Lacazette scored a fine goal from
Monreal’s layoff.
Unai Emery took a strong Arsenal squad to Qarabag on Thursday, and today we will find out if it was a good idea or not, as we now have to face a fully rested Fulham side at Craven Cottage. Emery seems convinced that his players should be fit enough to handle three games in a week and I certainly hope he is right!
Arsenal make the short trip across London to take on Fulham this weekend, with the visiting side eyeing their sixth straight league win, and a third away win in a row as well as our third clean sheet as well.
No matter how badly Arsenal have been performing, the fact is that we now have 8 wins in a row under our belt, but all that is irrelevant this weekend when we just have to focus all our energy on beating Fulham and getting another three points under our belts. As Unai Emery said: “Usually I don’t look behind, every day I’m looking at the next matches – what’s in front,”
Unai Emery took many of the Arsenal first-teamers on the 12 hour return journey to Qarabag, which seems like a big gamble ahead of the tough trip to Fulham on Sunday, but he left quite a few on the bench and used many peripheral players but still got the result. The coach doesn’t think the travelling will affect the squad too much. He said: “For us it’s not a problem to play on Thursday and then on Sunday because we want to play a lot of matches and a lot of competitions,”
Here are Dan’s Premier League predictions for this weekend. You may be surprised at his forecast for Arsenal!
Friday
Brighton 1-1 West Ham
Hammers will have painful memories of the correspondent fixture last season, Brighton’s best away performance.
This is a challenge for Manuel Pellegrini for different reasons to last Saturday. Having beaten Man United, can he ensure his players have the same attitude and level of professionalism against lesser opposition? I’m not sure.
Arsenal are in faraway Azerbaijan for our second Europa League Group Stage game against Qarabag, with the Gunners aiming to get their 8th win in a row in all competitions. Unai Emery is taking this competition very seriously and has taken nearly a full squad on the five and a half hour flight taking them 2,500 miles to the very edge of Europe.