Fulham 0-1 Arsenal LIVE: Score and Premier League latest; Alexandre Lacazette goal

Fulham vs Arsenal: Express Sport brings you LIVE Premier League coverage from Craven Cottage

FULHAM 0-1 ARSENAL | LACAZETTE (28)

Fulham XI: Bettinelli, Christie, Odoi, Ream, Le Marchand, Seri, Zambo Anguissa, Vietto, Schurrle, Sessegnon, Mitrovic

Arsenal XI: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Monreal, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Welbeck, Lacazette

• Mesut Ozil sidelined with a back spasm
• Alexandre Lacazette opens the scoring

FULHAM 0-1 ARSENAL

39: Noticeable that Aaron Ramsey did not leave his seat on the bench to celebrate Alexandre Lacazette’s goal. Has the relationship with his Arsenal team-mates soured that badly already?

37: Fulham are the only side in the Premier League yet to keep a clean sheet this season, while no side has conceded more in the competition than them (17 – level with Cardiff & Huddersfield).

36: Boos from Arsenal fans as Alexandre Lacazette goes down injured. They want the ball put out of play but Fulham continue their attack that fails to trouble Leno. The Frenchman has gone down three times already today – I suspect he won’t last 90 minutes.

33: Torreira goes down clutching his knee after a 50/50 with Seri but he’s jogged it off. Mkhitaryan is afforded tons of space but ignores his options before slamming it into the stands.

31: Could, and probably should, be 2-0 to Arsenal as Fulham crumble defensively. Danny Welbeck bursts clear and puts a low cross into the middle but Bettinelli just about gathers Henrikh Mkhitaryan deft flick.

FULHAM 0-1 ARSENAL | LACAZETTE

28: Bosh! Alexandre Lacazette has opened the scoring with a tidy finish inside the penalty area. It’s only his fourth away from the Emirates Stadium.

The Frenchman starts the attack when winning a header against Tim Ream, who was far too weak. The knockdown finds Alex Iwobi on the left flank and he releases Nacho Monreal to cross for Lacazette, who spins Christie before firing low beyond Bettinelli.

Death, taxes and Fulham conceding.

26: Anyone else been impressed with Alex Iwobi lately? I’ll admit that I didn’t think he was good enough to be a regular at Arsenal – but he’s been great under Unai Emery. Another weaving run sees the Nigeria international glide into the penalty area before Le Marchand sticks a boot in.

23: Just a few light jabs between these two, until Iwobi and Welbeck combine down the left touchline. A quick one-two releases the striker, whose cutback is cleared by Ream with Lacazette lurking just behind.

20: Arsenal have scored at least two goals in every match this season. So it’s clear which end of the pitch has struggled.

There’s plenty of pushing and shoving inside the penalty area from an Arsenal corner, but the delivery from the right fails to beat the first man. Where’s Ozil when you need him, eh?

17: No dice. Seri’s cross is cleared and Mitrovic belts it miles over the crossbar. Could well have landed in the Thames, actually…

16: You would have to say that Fulham are bossed the opening stages, but they’ve not been able to make their dominance count. This is becoming frustratingly familiar for Slavisa Jokanovic. They should have opened the scoring against Everton last weekend but wasteful finishing cost them dearly.

Mitrovic and Monreal clash in midfield with both hobbling away from the challenge. Fulham have the free-kick anyway. 30 yards out…

13: There’s a brief injury scare for Lacazette. The Frenchman had his ankle trodden on my a marauding Aleksandar Mitrovic by mistake. After a quick rub he’s back on his feet.

10: Now are we going to discuss height? Arsenal’s XI look far taller than Fulham. Could set-pieces prove the difference?

9: Fulham know the drill against Unai Emery’s side. They know the Gunners will look to play out from the back and they are pressing high up the pitch to force a mistake.

Close! Mitrovic gains a yard on Mustafi inside the penalty area but the German recovers to deflect his shot for a corner. It’s cleared.

6: Save! Hector Bellerin plays a suicidal crossfield pass that Vietto collects and nips forward. His shot takes a wicked deflection off Holding before Leno parries it away with one outstretched bear claw. The corner is quickly cleared.

3: The incentive is there for Arsenal today. Eight victories on the bounce, winning without playing particularly well and scoring goals for fun. Oh, they can also sneak into the top four temporarily too.

Mkhitaryan decides to shoot from 20-yards but skews it miles wide. I’ll be kind and call that an early sighter.

FULHAM 0-0 ARSENAL

1: Right then, the first of our triple-header is underway at a gloriously sunny Craven Cottage. It really is a lovely setting – probably the nicest in the top-flight actually. No massively intimidating for visitors through – unless clappers worry you of course…

Football friends…

11:55: A football manager discussing his counterpart with genuine respect and admiration?! Not something we see to often in the Premier League… or wherever Jose Mourinho is managing.

Fulham’s Slavisa Jokanovic has praised Unai Emery’s “brave” approach to replacing Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

“They reset the club in some ways after Wenger, choosing a different philosophy,” Jokanovic said. “The team right now is brave; really offensive at a good level. Arsenal’s an important club so he doesn’t have much space to make mistakes, but there’s enough quality for him.

“He seems to live the profession 24 hours a day. I believe he’s going to be successful with the team.”

Twitter round-up

Richard: Granit Xhaka captaining the team today, nothing can go wrong with that…

Connor: #FULARS is without a doubt the best Premier League game hashtag of the season.

Max: In big matches we can’t depend on Mesut Ozil, on other days, he is sick… what are we supposed to do with this guy?!

Surely #BURARS or #ARSHUL are contenders, Connor?!

Rambo – Part 2

11:45: Following on from Aaron Ramsey’s contract situation – Wales manager Ryan Giggs thinks Rambo is destined to play for an elite European club if he leaves Arsenal.

“Aaron can play anywhere and for any club, he’s suited to any league,” Giggs said. “He’s played at the top with Arsenal and has been there for 10 years. Then there’s all the games he’s played for Wales.

“He’s a goalscoring midfielder who, if he plays 40-45 games a season, is going to score 15 goals. They don’t grow on trees. He’s also a good character, has a good personality, and is a good professional. So if he does go, somebody is getting a very good player.”

No side has been put forward or backed by the bookies with ‘any Italian club’ the current favourite at 6/1. Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are all 10/1.

‘Surprised me’

11:40: Arsenal boss Unai Emery has made big changes and Martin Keown isn’t totally convinced.

“It is interesting,” Keown said on BT Sport. “Actually it has surprised me a little bit. Mkhitaryan coming in, he hasn’t started in four matches, Ozil’s out with a back injury.

“Welbeck will play and he played in midweek. We didn’t think he would actually do that. The important thing is Lacazette is playing because he is in really good form at the moment.”

Long journey

11:35: Do Arsenal have a ready-made excuse if they drop points today?

The Gunners completed a 5,000-mile round-trip to beat Qarabag 3-0 in Baku on Thursday night and touched down back in England just 56 hours before today’s kick off.

Unai Emery somewhat surprisingly opted to take a strong 21-man squad to Azerbaijan, with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka among the party.

Twitter round-up

Wilson: Ozil proving to be an expensive sicknote. We need him out of the club ASAP. Happy for Danny Welbeck on a personal level. Works had for the jersey and plays. Simple.

Sidney: The Fulham vs Arsenal game deserves a better hashtag…

Tim: With Lucas Torreira in the team, Arsenal have gone 283 minutes without conceding a goal. He’s essential already.

The big numbers

11:28: Arsenal have a 51.3 percent win rate in Premier League London derbies (123/240) – the best in the division. Meanwhile, Fulham have the lowest win rate in these games (20.8 percent – 25/120).

Later today…

11:25: Remember, we’ve got ourselves a triple-header today with Chelsea, Southampton, Liverpool and Manchester City all in action on a busy afternoon of Premier League football.

And that’s… kind of good news. Having attended a wedding yesterday and argued with the DJ about requesting ‘Africa’ by Toto 900 times – I would have preferred a quiet day.

Rambo

11:20: A few people have asked why Aaron Ramsey has been benched today. Yes, he’s expecting twins shortly but his contractual dispute could be another reason.

Ramsey’s 10-year Arsenal stay appears to be drawing to a close with the midfielder’s representatives, Avid Sports & Entertainment Group, suggesting in two tweets this week that contract talks with the Gunners had collapsed.

It was reported that Arsenal had pulled out of talks with their wage bill stretched to over £200million a year and Ramsey’s representatives, in a since deleted tweet, said the player “didn’t want to leave, but now there is no other option”.

The 27-year-old joined Arsenal from Cardiff in 2008 for a bargain £5m and has made 337 appearances, scoring 58 goals.

But he could now leave north London in January or next summer.

Twitter round-up

Salazar: Really looking forward to seeing Mkhitaryan and Iwobi in midfield today, pity Aubameyang is on the bench, would’ve been nice to see him combine with Mkhitaryan playing as the CAM.

Petra: Aaron Ramsey on the bench? Sokratis on the bench? Wow! That’s interesting! Emery is tinkering too much! Ramsey is a must start all day everyday in any top team in the world!

Mitch: I’m scared Mustafi might do something silly today.

I think we’re all scared that Shkodran Mustafi could do something silly at any moment, Mitch…

Team news – Arsenal

11:10: Four changes for Unai Emery. The headline news is that Mesut Ozil is completely absent from the matchday squad. I’m told he’s suffering with a back injury.

Elsewhere Bernd Leno is in goal with Petr Cech injured. Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck are rewarded for a few good performances and make the starting XI.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been struggling with illness, while Aaron Ramsey and his wife Colleen are expecting twins.

Team news – Fulham

11:05: Fulham’s Slavisa Jokanovic has made two enforced changes from the side who were beaten 3-0 at Everton last weekend.

Both full-backs Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Joe Bryan are injured. Cyrus Christie and Maxime Le Marchand come in on either flank.

Interestingly, this is the EIGHTH different back four that Jokanovic has played this season. OK, well I thought it was quite interesting…

Starting XI…

11:00: And here are your line-ups for today’s clash folks. Quite a few changes for both sides with Fulham making two and Unai Emery making four from the victory over Watford.

Fulham XI: Bettinelli, Christie, Odoi, Ream, Le Marchand, Seri, Zambo, Vietto, Schurrle, Ryan Sessegnon, Mitrovic.

Subs: McDonald, Johansen, Ayite, Sergio Rico, Mawson, Steven Sessegnon, Kamara.

Arsenal XI: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Monreal, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Welbeck, Lacazette.

Subs: Papastathopoulos, Ramsey, Lichtsteiner, Aubameyang, Martinez, Guendouzi, Kolasinac.

Referee: Paul Tierney

MORNING…

10:50: Good morning everyone and welcome to our LIVE coverage of the Premier League.

Have you all seen the highlights of the Connor McGregor fight? Crazy scenes. The second Khabib Nurmagomedov climbed that cage I would have bolted for the exit.

I’m not the biggest UFC fan but when I saw a video of 9-year-old Khabib training with an actual bear, I knew McGregor was in trouble…

Anyway, Arsenal visit Craven Cottage where they will be looking for a ninth successive win under Unai Emery.

And I’m not even going to mention the hilarious hashtag for today’s game. OK, it’s #FULARS…

That’s the immature stuff out of the way (plenty more to come later). Let’s have the team news and line-ups, shall we?

FULHAM vs ARSENAL

Fulham defenders Joe Bryan (hamstring) and Timothy Fosu-Mensah (dislocated shoulder) have been ruled out, joining midfielder Neeskens Kebano (ankle) on the sidelines. Defender Alfie Mawson is in contention to return following a back injury, while fit-again midfielder Tom Cairney is pushing to start.

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery is likely to make wholesale changes. He made nine alterations for the 3-0 Europa League win away to Qarabag on Thursday and will be hoping to have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back from illness, while Aaron Ramsey could feature as he waits for his wife to give birth. Petr Cech (hamstring), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (leg), Laurent Koscielny (Achilles) and Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin) are missing but Henrikh Mkhitaryan is back in the squad after missing the trip to Azerbaijan.

Last season: No corresponding fixture

Last five league matches: Fulham W D L D L; Arsenal W W W W W

Top scorers (all competitions): Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham) 5; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang & Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) 4.

Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire)