Without wishing to put a hex on the midday clash at Craven Cottage, there ought to be goals and plenty of them in west London as Fulham take on Arsenal.
These are two somewhat suspect defences. Coming into Gameweek 7, the hosts had conceded more attempts in the box, shots on target and big chances than any Premier League side, and had conceded the joint-highest number of league goals (16). Slavisa Jokanovic’s side have also yet to register a clean sheet since their return to the top flight.
While Arsenal come into this fixture off the back of successive clean sheets, the Gunners conceded more big chances in Gameweeks 6 and 7 than any other Premier League club.
The Arsenal team news will raise a few eyebrows. While Bernd Leno (£4.8m) in for the injured Petr Cech (£5.0m) was anticipated, Unai Emery has made three other alterations to his starting XI – all of them in the attacking midfield positions behind Alexandre Lacazette (£9.6m).
Aaron Ramsey (£7.4m) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.7m), who had been minor doubts before the match due to personal circumstances and illness respectively, drop to the bench, while Mesut Ozil (£8.3m) misses out altogether with a back spasm.
Into the Gunners’ side come Alex Iwobi (£5.5m), Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£6.9m), who gets his first league start since Gameweek 3.
Fulham’s two changes are both enforced: injured pair Joe Bryan (£4.9m) and Timothy Fosu-Mensah (£4.5m) are replaced by Cyrus Christie and Maxime Le Marchand (both £4.3m).
If Slavisa Jokanovic has sent his side out in a 4-2-3-1, as he did last weekend against Everton, then Christie and Le Marchand will likely line up at full-back in the absence of their sidelined team-mates.
The Cottagers could, however, potentially be lined up in the 3-4-3 formation Jokanovic trialled in the Carabao Cup tie against Millwall in September, with Le Marchand featuring at centre-back and Christie deployed as a wing-back on the opposite side to Ryan Sessegnon (£6.1m).
Aleksandar Mitrovic (£7.0m) is by far the most-owned player on show at Craven Cottage today, sitting in 27% of FPL squads.
Fulham XI (4-2-3-1): Bettinelli; Christie, Odoi, Ream, Le Marchand; Seri, Zambo Anguissa; Vietto, Schurrle, Sessegnon; Mitrovic.
Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Monreal; Torreira, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Welbeck; Lacazette.
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