Arsenal has four victories and one draw from their last five matches, which should have Gunners fans happy. Their mid-week draw against Everton at the Emirates will not be the worst of results, but Arsene Wenger's side knows they can not afford to drop more points at Craven Cottage.
Meetings against Fulham tend to offer up a lot of goals, making Saturday's match likely to be a very entertaining match. Both sides have earned two victories in this fixture from the last five matches, with a draw in between.
Staying on track against Martin Jol's side, which does not have much to play for will not be easy, as we all saw in their first meeting this season.
Team News
Ashkan Dejagah, Damien Duff and Mahamadou Diarra are all out for Fulham. Steve Sidwell is suspended. Oriol Romeu, Ashley Cole and Gary Cahill are all out for Chelsea.
Analysis
Fulham’s form has slightly dipped recently. They drew against Villa in their last match and lost to Newcastle prior to that. They are a respectable tenth in the table. Fulham, capable of scaring any side, will relish the challenge called Chelsea. Chelsea will come into this one slightly disheartened following the loss against Manchester City in the FA Cup semifinals. The Blues will be desperate to tie up a spot in the top four in the table to secure Champions League football for next season. Overall, this encounter should be a highly exciting one.
Miami Beach, Florida (March 16, 2013) – LiveSoccerTV.com (@LiveSoccerTV) reminds you that Fox Soccer 2Go will air three 10:00 a.m. EST kick-offs from the English Premier League on Saturday, March 16, 2013. This will be followed by two more games on Sunday. Fox Deportes and Fox Soccer Channel will feature three of England’s best teams – Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, in its four-match coverage of the weekend. Fox Soccer Plus will feature Southampton vs Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur vs Fulham.
Arsenal exited this year’s UEFA Champions League in a glorious way. Their 2-0 victory at the Allianz Arena was not enough to reach the Last 8 of the competition. However, this result could give enough confidence for the Gunners to finish the EPL campaign strongly. This Saturday, Arsenal play Swansea City at 11:00 a.m. EST, hoping to take advantage of Spurs’ slip away to Liverpool last weekend.
This weekend sees two London clubs with varying fortunes go head to head. Tottenham is still living its European dream as it knocked out a gutsy Inter Milan side mid-week in the Europa League. This means that Spurs can still hope for another European crown, the last such instance being in 1984 when they grabbed the European Cup.
David Villa to ArsenalVilla was unhappy at Barcelona while Arsenal needed a great striker. All in all, Villa and Arsenal would be a match made in Heaven. However, Barcelona decided to step in. The Catalan club decided that they needed Villa to stay on for squad depth. The price tag for Villa was high too and Arsene Wenger, as we all…
Team NewsMahamadou Diarra, Kerim Frei and Neil Etheridge are all out of this game for Fulham. Dimitar Berbatov has a hamstring problem and is rated doubtful. Kieran Richardson is also rated doubtful for the London side. Darren Fletcher is out for United. Ashley Young, Nick Powell and Jonny Evans are all doubtful for…
In the last few years, there is no player who managed to delight and frustrate the Manchester United fans in equal measure than Dimitar Berbatov. While his supporters swear by his obvious talent and great footballing intelligence, his critics point to his lackadaisical attitude and languid style and declare him as a misfit into the Man United setup.
In his four seasons at Old Trafford, Berbatov managed to rack up 56 goals in 149 appearances. Those statistics do not indicate Berbatov's Old Trafford tenure as a flop, whatever might his critics say.
His performances in the 3-2 win against traditional rivals Liverpool and 5 goals against 7-1 win against their Lancashire neighbours Blackburn Rovers outline the splendid skill and abundance of talent that Berbatov possesses.
Team NewsFor United, Darren Fletcher is suffering from a chronic bowel condition. Ashley Young has a knee problem. Jonny Evans should be back for this one after recovering from a hamstring problem. Kerim Frei currently has a groin problem while Mahamadou Diarra has a knee problem for Fulham. Kieran Richardson has a calf…
Team NewsMaicon and Micah Richards are out of this one for City due to injuries. Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure and Abdul Razzak are all currently on international duty. Jack Rodwell is doubtful for Roberto Mancini’s side. Meanwhile, Vincent Kompany is available as his red card against Arsenal has been rescinded. Mahamadou Diarra and Kerim Frei are both…
After suffering their first home defeat of the season against Aston Villa last weekend, Liverpool will be totally focused on racking up three points against Fulham on Saturday.
Liverpool currently find themselves in 12th position of the table with 22 points, one position and two points ahead of Fulham after 17 rounds of the English Premier League.
The…
Analysis
It has been quite some time since any of these two sides tasted victory. Rafael Benitez would argue that he needs to win most on Wednesday. The former Liverpool head coach received a hostile reception by home fans on his Chelsea debut last weekend. Only success on the pitch can help Roberto Di Matteo’s heir to tone down the Blues’ furious supporters.
Meanwhile, also under intense pressure is Fernando Torres. The ex-Atletico Madrid star has gone 559 minutes without scoring a goal in the English Premier League. This is definitely not the kind of statistics that Russian owner Roman Abramovich wants to observe from his £50M signing.
Arsenal found themselves leading 0-2 against a very good Schalke side in the Arena Auf Schalke on Tuesday. The lead was extremely fortunate. The first goal was definitely offside. Even the second goal wasn’t exactly onside. Arsenal’s overall performance was poor. The German side dominated the game and Arsenal eventually caved in and conceded twice.
Alex Ferguson failed to overcome David Moyes’ Toffees. Fergie chose to play Robin van Persie as a late substitute but tactical tricks did not work as Everton held on to win 1-0.
Manchester United now have to bounce back. This Saturday, the Red Devils will play host to Fulham. The latter are fresh from a resounding 5-0 victory over Norwich City. What are the Cottagers’ chances of stunning Manchester United at Old Trafford?
Watch the match live on FOX Deportes or Fox Soccer Channel in the United States and Setanta Sports 1 in the United Kingdom. In Canada, viewers can rely on Sportsnet for top coverage of Manchester United vs Fulham.
Six 10:00am EST (2:00pm GMT / 3:00pm BST) kick-offs will be sandwiched between a lunch-time encounter and an evening fixture.
Swansea City vs West Ham United will open proceedings at 7:45am EST (11:45am GMT / 12:45 BST). Brendan Rodgers’ former side provided the public with a goal fest last Saturday as goals from Michu, Dyer and Sinclair hit Queens Park Rangers for five.
With this brilliant start to the English Premier League, Swansea City have put themselves under the spotlight. West Ham United will be looking to test Swansea’s strength in depth when both teams meet this Saturday. The Hammers were also victors last weekend thanks to a lone strike from Kevin Nolan.
Brian McBride spoke to Goal.com this week as Clint Dempsey remains determined to leave Craven Cottage. The 29-year-old hit a personal record by scoring 23 goals for Fulham in 46 appearances last season.
Manchester United 1-0 Fulham – It took a lone goal by Rooney and a controversial penalty decision by referee Michael Oliver at Old Trafford to fire the Red Devils three points clear off rivals Manchester City at the top of the English Premier League table on Monday night. It will all begin with a lunch time kick-off at Stamford Bridge. The Blues, having lost to Manchester City in midweek, failed to close the gap against fourth-placed Tottenham. Chelsea remain fifth in the standings with 49 points while London rivals Spurs have dropped to fourth with 54 points, 1 point behind new third place tenants Arsenal.
Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will both be looking to get back to winning ways. The Blues had a really tough time at the Etihad Stadium and they lost out only just. Spurs, meanwhile, proved shaky again as Stoke City held them to a 1-1 draw.
Manchester City must recover from their crucial defeat to Everton. The Citizens got punished by a former Manchester United boy, Darron Gibson. His goal proved to be the difference at Goodison Park on Tuesday night.
Laurent Koscielny headed the Gunners into a first half lead, before Steve Sidwell and Bobby Zamora netted during the last five minutes to hand Fulham a dramatic victory.