Premier League leaders Arsenal have been far from convincing of late and look set to face another tricky test when visiting Fulham on Sunday.
The Gunners had to come from behind to beat the Cottagers at Emirates Stadium earlier this term and will not have things all their own way here either.
Fulham, who are seventh and through to the FA Cup quarter-finals, have scored in 13 of 15 games in front of their own fans in all competitions this term.
Fulham’s seven-match unbeaten run came to an end when visiting another of this season’s surprise packages Brentford on Monday.
Manor Solomon cancelled out Ethan Pinnock’s early strike to make it 1-1 at half-time but the Bees struck twice more before Carlos Vinicius grabbed a late consolation.
The Cottagers remain in the European hunt but boss Marco Silva said: “It’s a moment for us to learn and to improve from this situation.
“The players for sure are going to know during the week why the things happened in this way, and we have to improve for the next one.”
Our big concern is that Fulham have not fared well against the best teams in the division.
Since drawing 2-2 with Liverpool on the opening day of the season, they have lost all seven encounters with sides above them in the top six.
In six of those games, the margin of defeat was just one goal, with an eighth-minute red card for Nathaniel Chalobah contributing towards a 4-1 thumping by Newcastle.
Arsenal are flying high at the Premier League summit following four straight wins in this competition, but only one of those victories was gained with any authority.
The Gunners had to come from behind twice when prevailing 4-2 at Aston Villa before only shading Leicester 1-0 on the road.
Everton were crushed 4-0 but it took a 97th-minute Reiss Nelson strike to edge out Bournemouth 3-2 on home turf after trailing 2-0 with an hour gone.
Mikel Arteta again bemoaned the fact his side conceded “poor” goals in Thursday’s 2-2 Europa League draw away to Sporting Lisbon.
Arsenal’s attacking options have been hampered by injuries to Eddie Nketiah, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus.
They also suffered illness in their camp in Portugal, with Martin Odegaard, Kieran Tierney, Fabio Vieira and Nelson laid low with minor symptoms.
However, Granit Xhaka believes the Gunners have what it takes to compete for trophies on two fronts.
The midfielder said: “You can see that every team is playing differently against us. They are dropping a lot, sometimes they are pressing us as well.
“But this is what happens when you are top of the League – much more pressure than before, for sure.
“But in general, I think we are doing well. I think there is a good mentality in the team and let’s try to keep that.”
PREDICTION: Fulham 1-2 Arsenal
Culled from sports.bwin.com
