Beating West Brom at home is one thing, but winning at Craven Cottage is another. Fulham might have let a one-goal lead slip at Hull last weekend, but they’ll be determined to take advantage of an Arsenal team who are struggling in the midfield department.

Last season, the Gunners won this fixture 3-0, although the midfield consisted of Fabregas, Hleb, Flamini and Rosicky. For various reasons, not one of these quartet will be available for Saturday’s match, with Setanta reporting that Arsenal’s Spanish maestro will be missing the action for a second match running.

“You know how important Cesc is on the creative side of our game and you want him to be in the team, but we do not want to face a gamble for just one game and we have to be patient,” the Frenchman explained.

“We will have to assess him on Monday or Tuesday to see how big a gamble it will be to start him or not.

“We are not in a desperate situation because we have Song back from the Olympics, [Abou] Diaby does not look too far away and hopefully we can get good news from [Tomas] Rosicky in the next two weeks.”

Even so, Roy Hodgson will be considering this a very good time to be facing the Arsenal, who are still looking for a new face or two, including Gareth Barry. Can they take full advantage of a fledgling midfield, or will Wenger’s men still prove too strong for Fulham?