Advantage Arsenal. Gunners Line Up to Beat Stubborn Fulham and Narrow the Gap at the top. Rotation on the cards?

By Danong and 1970s Gooner 

Arsenal and Fulham are going head-to-head today at Craven Cottage. Looking at results between them last season not being able to beat them, whether at home or away, was definitely a big blow to our title hopes.

Surely it's crucial Arsenal gets it right this time around. It should be so not as a payback for last season but because winning this game really helps Arsenal's title hopes.

Since Liverpool didn't play on Saturday because their match against Everton got postponed due to bad weather, Arsenal will have a chance to narrow the gap at the top of the table by just 4 points.

This puts some pressure on the Merseyside club. And some commentators have pointed out this slight advantage to the chasing pack.

On the other hand if the game had been played it would have been under some favourable circumstances.

The weather which, as severe as it was, would surely have constricted Liverpool in playing their normal passing game and given the lesser opponent a strong platform to get something from the fixture.

Now Fulham isn’t a team to mess around with. Even though Chris Sutton in his BBC column thinks Arsenal will win this battle, he still thinks this game is going to be a tough one for our Gunners.

The ex-Chelsea man, while predicting a 2-1 Arsenal win, admitted, “they did not miss Gabriel at the back against United, but this might be a tougher test for them, especially because some of Fulham’s key players are Gunners old boys”

Gabriel and Calafiori may return to the Arsenal lineup after missing the match against Manchester United. They did not take part in the open training session but it has been reported that they participated in individual training, which is encouraging news.

If they are not available then Arteta will likely go with Kiwior and Zinchenco again which is risky. Zinchenko although he has improved, he still is vulnerable to a pacy winger taking him on.

One alternative would be to move Partey to RB and Timber at LB. We have also favoured Tierney be used at LB but it looks like Arteta may be reluctant to do that.

In midfield the trio of Rice, Partey, and Odegaard  may continue (if Partey is selected to play there) to lay the foundation of an Arsenal dominance.

Trossard may return at LW for Martinelli who didn't justify his start there versus United.

Lastly in the attack Arteta may surprise a lot of people by resting Havertz and playing Jesus there. It wouldn't be a surprise really as Havertz looked jaded against Man utd. On the other hand he may choose to rest him for the midweek CL game instead.

The line up if Calafiori and Gabriel are available:

Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori
Partey, Rice, Odegaard
Saka, Havertz, Trossard

If they are not the Kiwior and Zinchenco are likely to start.

What would you change on that lineup?