Arsenal v Fulham: Premier League – live

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1 min Fulham get the match under way. There’s an excellent atmosphere at the Emirates; what the home supporters would give for an early goal or three.

Marco Silva’s pre-match thoughts

I want us to express ourselves in the best way possible and to match Arsenal in every aspect of the game.

There is tension around [the Emirates] but it is a normal tension – it’s part of the game at this stage of the season.

[On the absence of Sander Berge] We’ve had a virus at our training ground. But as always it is not going to be an excuse; other players have to stand up.

“My thanks to Richard Hirst, but if we’re talking races to the grave, I’m probably a way ahead of him,” writes Charles Antaki. “So should the Arsenal men’s team fail at this Premier League hurdle, the next may be beyond my span. Today, the universe has a chance to right the wrongs of the women’s unsatisfactory performance at Lyon; but given that the universe seems to show absolutely no interest in righting wrongs of any description, and there are a few around at the moment, I’m not particularly hopeful. But, as ever, we shall see.”

Mikel Arteta’s pre-match thoughts

Some of the changes are forced. There are other reasons as well – we need a lot of energy, freshness and quality as well.

[On Myles Lewis-Skelly playing in midfield] He’s been very patient, extremely understanding about the situation and he deserves another chance. Every time he’s played, he’s done really well.

Whatever happens at the Emirates, 2 May 2026 will go down as a bad day for Arsenal Football Club. That’s because Arsenal Women, the reigning European champions, were dethroned by Lyon in a dramatic Champions League semi-final.

“Hi Rob,” writes Richard Hirst. “I sort of understand why your preamble is devoted to Arsenal (Charles Antaki, we feel your pain), but there are two teams with something to play for today. I’ve never seen Fulham win anything in my 62 years of supporting them, largely because we are the biggest team in England never to have won anything.

“I was at Wembley in 1975 and in Hamburg in 2010, a gap of 35 years. If we qualify for Europe this season and get to the final in 2027 that will be a gap of 17 years, or roughly half. So I reckon that with luck and good health I’ve got that final plus one in 2035 (half the gap again) to see Fulham win something. To that end, we need to win today; sorry Charles.”

This lack of respect for the 2002 Intertoto Cup sickens me.

Premier League results

• Brentford 3-0 West Ham

• Newcastle 3-1 Brighton

• Wolves 1-1 Sunderland

We’re all painfully aware what Arsenal are playing for, but Fulham also have big ambitions for the remainder of the season.

A win at the Emirates would lift them to seventh and increases their chances of qualifying for Europe for the first time since 2011-12.

There’s plenty going on in the early Premier League games. You can follow the action with John Brewin.

Mikel Arteta has dismissed suggestions that Premier League sides are incapable of matching the levels hit by their European rivals, saying that freshness was key to Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain producing arguably the game of the season in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

With the Arsenal manager stressing player availability will make the difference during a defining moment in the club’s history, he argued that English football’s competitiveness cannot be ignored when it comes to accusations that the quality of football has dropped.

Arsenal have fought on four fronts during a draining campaign and Arteta, whose side have a number of injury problems before they hope to boost their title chances by beating Fulham on Saturday, pointed out that the domestic dominance of PSG and Bayern ensured they were in peak condition during their thriller in Paris on Tuesday.

“When I look at that game, Bayern v PSG, it’s probably the best game I ever witnessed in the quality of two teams and especially the individual quality the players delivered, I have never seen something like this,” Arteta said. “But when I look at the amount of minutes and the freshness of those players, then I’m not surprised.”

Team news

Mikel Arteta makes five changes to the Arsenal side that started in Madrid on Wednesday. Riccardo Calafiori, Myles Lewis-Skelly (who is playing in midfield), Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard come in for Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli. Odegaard isn’t in the matchday squad.

Harrison Reed and Antonee Robinson replace the unavailable pair of Sander Berge and Ryan Sessegnon in the Fulham side.

Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Eze, Rice, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.

Subs: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, Hincapie, Jesus, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Zubimendi, Dowman.

Fulham (4-2-3-1) Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Lukic, Reed; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze; Raul Jimenez.

Subs: Lecomte, Tete, Diop, Cuenca, Cairney, King, Bobb, Kusi-Asare, Muniz.

Referee Jarred Gillett.

Preamble

Happiness is an illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory. Most of the time, watching our team play football is mostly a miserable, desperate, hard-faced experience – one that is entirely worth it for the moments of euphoria that little else can provide.

Nick Hornby nailed it in Fever Pitch when he remembered his first visit to Highbury.

What impressed me most was just how much most of the men around me hated, really hated, being there. As far as I could tell, nobody seemed to enjoy, in the way that I understood the word, anything that happened during the entire afternoon. Within minutes of the kick-off there was real anger (‘You’re a DISGRACE, Gould. He’s a DISGRACE!’ A hundred quid a week? A HUNDRED QUID A WEEK! They should give that to me for watching you.’); as the game went on, the anger turned into outrage, and then seemed to curdle into sullen, silent discontent… Entertainment as pain was an idea entirely new to me, and it seemed to be something I’d been waiting for. It might not be too fanciful to suggest that it was an idea which shaped my life.

This could be the greatest season in Arsenal’s history, the one in which they win the Premier League and Champions League, yet the last few months have had strong root-canal vibes. All things being equal, there will be a fair bit of misery and despair at the Emirates tonight. When you’re trying to win your first league title in 22 years, it’s the way it has to be.

Kick off 5.30pm