Let’s do the bad news first for Arsenal. They lost last night to West Ham and fell out of first place in the process. Now the good news, manager Mikel Arteta will have more options available for the next match, as Kai Havertz is back from suspension.
In addition, Takehiro Tomiyasu (calf) and Thomas Partey (thigh) are both in contention to be possibly be passed as match fit to play on Sunday.
Arsenal at Fulham FYIs
Kick: New Year’s Eve 2023, 2pm, Craven Cottage, London, UK
Arsenal FC Preview Material: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
PL Form: Arsenal LDWLW Fulham LLLWW
PL Standing: Arsenal 2nd, 40 pts Fulham 13th, 21 pts
Google Result Probability: Arsenal 61% Fulham 17% Draw 22%
Arsenal Team News
It means their injury list is getting much shorter, and the only definitively ruled out players for the New Year’s Eve London derby at Fulham are Jurrien Timber (knee) and Patrick Vieira (groin).
Last night’s defeat saw yet another VAR controversy for Arteta and Arsenal, and after the match the Spaniard admitted his side needs to overcome it. The Gunners boss said his side needs to play better, and well enough to not have matches decided by Video Assistant Refereeing technology.
“I haven’t seen it, [but] they’re saying it’s not conclusive,” Arteta said of Tomas Soucek’s goal in the 13′ that opened the scoring yesterday.
“It’s a shame that with the technology that we have, that it’s not that clear so that we can say whether it’s out or in. It’s done. It’s gone. There’s nothing we can do about it now.
“If the technology we have at the moment is not good enough to give us that answer, what we have to do is without that win the game. With the number of situations we generated in the game, that should have been more than enough.”
He’s right- they didn’t lose the match on Thursday due to VAR. Their downfall was due to their lack of finishing off all the scoring chances that they created.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.