Fulham vs Arsenal Prediction, Odds and Lineups: 7/1 double for this afternoon's game

This afternoon, Craven Cottage sets the stage for the first London derby of the day as Fulham welcome Arsenal.

Oli Nixon has taken a deep dive into the action, sharing his top predictions and best bets for the clash.

The Cottagers are looking to continue a good run of form that has seen them climb to the dizzy heights of 6th place having seen off Brighton 3-1 in midweek.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have profited from Man City’s recent downturn in form to emerge as one of the closest challengers to Liverpool’s title charge. The Gunners only took a solitary point from Fulham last season and will be desperate for a win to remain in Arne Slot’s rear-view mirror and put the pressure on after they dropped points in midweek.  

Two player angles stand out in this game and so we’ll be combining them into two selections, a baseline to cover our stake and then a longshot from the same players. The first of those players is Sander Berge and we’re looking for him to get stuck in and make plenty of tackles.  

Having nailed down a starting berth in Marco Silva’s midfield, the Norwegian has set about consistently breaking down opposition attacks. In his last six Premier League starts, he’s made 13 tackles, hitting at least one in every game and two or more in five of them. He averages 1.6 tackles per game across his career for club and country and we can expect him to add to that average in this game.  

Opponents Arsenal are the seventh most tackled side in the Premier League, drawing 18.5 per game. Berge will be tasked with containing his fellow countryman Martin Odegaard who has been dispossessed an average of 2.15 times per 90 this season. He’ll also be covering Bukayo Saka who draws 2.2 tackles per 90. Arsenal also draw plenty of tackles in central areas with six of the last eight opposition central midfielders making at least two tackles.  

To complete our Bet Builders, we need Arsenal’s playmaker Martin Odegaard to make plenty of passes. Since returning from injury, Odegaard has been influential in improving Arsenal’s fortunes in front of goal and it’s no surprise that they’ve scored 15 goals in their last 4 matches with him setting the tempo. Those games have seen the Norwegian have pass totals of 65 vs Sporting CP, 67 vs Nottingham Forest, 46 vs West Ham, and 45 vs Man Utd.

Last season against Fulham, he made 50 passes at the Emirates and in this fixture he racked up a whopping 67. His only other appearance against them was also at Craven Cottage in March 2023 where he made 60 passes despite Arsenal being 3-0 up at half time. 

Fulham average the sixth-highest possession at home in the Premier League with 54.6%. However, these games haven’t included any of the ‘bigger’ sides and when they do face these sides, this number significantly decreases. In last season’s home games against teams who finished in the top five, they averaged just 42.2% of the ball.

Despite seeing more of the ball on their own patch this season, they’ve allowed plenty of opposition central midfielders to move the ball including Joao Gomes 50, Youri Tielemans 66, Bruno Guimaraes 73 and Harry Winks 55 and so there’s every reason to think that Odegaard is more than capable of the 52 passes needed to land our big odds selection.  

Fulham vs Arsenal Lineups

Reiss Nelson won't feature for Fulham as he's on-loan from Arsenal, Tom Carney is suspended, while Harrison Reed and Joachim Andersen are both injured.

Mikel Arteta will hope that Gabriel is fit to play after missing the Man United win, but Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain out.

The starting lineups for Fulham vs Arsenal will be displayed in the graphic below once the team news has been announced.