(Football news) The two sides will play each other for the first time since August, when Joao Palhinha scored an equalizer in the 87th minute to keep the match tied 2-2 at the Emirates Stadium against the Gunners. With the exception of their victory over Everton in a penalty shootout during the EFL Cup third round, Fulham hasn’t had much to celebrate over the holiday season. On Boxing Day, they lost 3-0 to Bournemouth in the Premier League, their third straight loss without scoring.

For the most part of the first half, the Cottagers held their own until Justin Kluivert gave the Cherries the lead just before the half ended. After the interval, Solanke and Sinisterra added goals to condemn Marco Silva’s team to their tenth league defeat of the season.

At this point in the Premier League season, Fulham is the only team in the relegation zone with more losses than Luton Town (11), Burnley (14), and Sheffield United (14). Fulham is currently in 13th place in the table, six points clear of the bottom three, and has played more games than Luton, which is in 18th place.

After earning 15 of their 21 Premier League points so far this season, Fulham will be happy to return home Craven Cottage. Prior to suffering an unexpected 2-0 loss to Burnley in their most recent home game last weekend, Silva’s team had won three straight games at home by an aggregate score of 13-2.

Although the Cottagers have lost all seven of their home top-flight games against teams based in London and have lost their last 11 meetings with Arsenal, a successful outcome on Sunday should not be discounted given that they have triumphed in their final league game in five of the previous eight calendar years.

Notably, Fulham defeated West Ham United 5-0 at home earlier this month. On Thursday night, the Gunners’ 10-game home unbeaten streak came to an end when the same team surprised Arsenal with a 2-0 victory at the Emirates.

David Moyes secured his first-ever managerial victory away from the Gunners on the twenty-third try, thanks to goals from Tomas Soucek and former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos either side of halftime. David Raya also saved the team from a harsher defeat when he saved a stoppage-time penalty from Said Benrahma.

In addition, Arsenal has dropped 10 points from where they were at this time last season, which is tied with Sunday’s opponents Fulham (-10) for the biggest decline in the Premier League over the past 12 months. Since 2008–09, no Premier League team has had more touches in the penalty area in a single match without scoring than Mikel Arteta’s team (77) against West Ham.

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