Arsenal vs. Fulham: "Horrible" prediction made for Premier League fixture amid Atletico Madrid changes verdict

Ahead of Saturday's crucial Premier League fixture between Arsenal and Fulham, hear what the Sports Mole team have to say about the upcoming London derby.

Ben Knapton, Site Coordinator - "Horrible watch, 1-0 Arsenal win"

A bit of an unwelcome distraction, if you like, in between these two Atletico legs. The Atletico first leg wasn't chaotic in the PSG Bayern 5-4 epic sense, but it was still chaotic in the sense of just being such a fiery contest with just so much going on.

I will say, the Eze penalty incident; if that's in the other box, that doesn't get overturned. I think the referee maybe did cave to the pressure of Simeone waving his arms about behind him, but I can understand why he might have done that.

Referees could very easily fear for their safety or even fear for their life if they make a decision against that team in that scenario. Look what happened to Anthony Taylor after the Europa League final when he and his family were accosted by those Roma fans at the airport. So referees have got to take their own safety into account. I'm not excusing the decision by any means, but that may have been a factor in his decision making.

But in terms of the overall performance from Arsenal, first half, very happy. Second half, not so much. Required some standard Raya and Gabriel heroics to get us that draw, but a draw away from home, first leg semi-final. Brilliant result. Absolutely brilliant.

I'd be happy if it was even a one goal defeat. I would think we could turn that around at home. We did beat Atletico 4-0 in the league phase, it's very different now.

This Fulham game at home, Arsenal have never lost a home league game against Fulham in not just Premier League history, in the entire English football league history. It's 32 games, 25 wins and seven draws.

So now that I've said that, this will be the one that breaks the streak. But I honestly don't think so; Fulham got that good win over Aston Villa last weekend, but they've been so, so poor in front of goal recently. And Arteta does have a few more options for change in this one.

He could put Calafiori at left back, he's fit again. Obviously, Eze's OK, Saka's OK. The squad situation is looking a bit rosier now than it did pretty much a month ago when there were these 10 or 11 international withdrawals.

It's going to be interesting to see what Arteta does, because he benched Saka and Eze against Atletico, started that front three of Madueke, Gyokeres, Martinelli, which a lot of fans weren't happy about. But I understood it because Saka is just back. Eze picked up a knock against Newcastle, so you had to really manage them carefully with that game.

I think they'll be back in the starting lineup for this one. And if you're asking me for my prediction, I think it's going to be another horrible watch, 1-0 win for Arsenal, scrappy corner goal.

Matt Law, Football Editor - "Atletico will make 11 changes, Arsenal can't"

For me, it was a surprise the Eze one got overturned. I think it would have been a soft penalty, but surprised it got overturned. I think the handball was a soft penalty. Is it clear and obvious? No. Should it be given? Yeah. Should it have been a penalty in the first place? Probably not.

So you could argue that the right decision was maybe reached, but I thought Atletico was so poor in the first half. They've not been great recently at all.

Luckily enough, they had a lot of credit in the bank in terms of points from the first half of the season, because if their form was like this and they were battling for Champions League to finish top four, they would be struggling because they've been really bad recently. That's why I still fancy Arsenal over the two legs.

Atletico last night were poor in the first half, a lot better in the second. But they really needed to score when they had that period after the Alvarez penalty where they had a few chances.

Atletico needed to go next week with a slight lead. Not to say that they can't beat Arsenal in the second leg, but I would have Arsenal as quite strong favourites in terms of how Atletico have travelled this season. It's not been great.

It's not a peak Simeone team by any stretch of the imagination. I think the difficulty for Arsenal next week is Atletico in the league are very safe in terms of top four, so they'll make 11 changes, whereas Arsenal can't afford to do that.

They have to play their best players to get the result they need, whereas Simeone will wrap Alvarez and Griezmann and all his key players up in cotton wool for next week and say, we'll go again next week and you can have the weekend off, and Arsenal can't afford to do that.

So, that's where it might even the playing field for me.

Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter - "Arsenal's banana skin"

Every game for Arsenal is a must-win, as it is for City, and yes, Arsenal should be motivated by that prospect of moving six points clear. Many will say that they'd rather have the points on the board than having the pressure of playing catch-up. City might argue that they actually thrive on chasing down teams, but still, to move six points clear would be huge for Arsenal if they can beat Fulham.

Jamie Carragher has come out and said that Fulham could be Arsenal's banana skin, and he's maybe right there. This is arguably Arsenal's toughest remaining league fixture now because of what Fulham have still got to play for. They've still got a chance of qualifying for Europe, so it could be a tricky game for them.

Having said that, Fulham have been quite inconsistent throughout this season, and just four wins in the last 11 league games. They did claim that hard-fought win against Villa last time out 1-0, so they're now sitting 10th and just two points behind sixth, so there's something still to play for for Fulham, but I still think Arsenal will be favourites for this at home. The fans should be up for it.

There's a lot to play for with this title race now, so I would still back Arsenal to beat Fulham, even though it could be a tricky game.