Fulham this afternoon revisits what was possibly the worst forty five minutes of the past season and a half. Simply put it was a Craven capitulation; this time around though there can be no excuses for such an abject display.

The team will be without Robin van Persie who is going to Holland for his rehabilitation; apparently he will be out for two to three weeks but given the way this and last season have gone for the lad, I will believe it when I see it. And see him last for more than one match. Johan Djourou will be out for a similar spell but gets to see the sights of Hertfordshire instead.

The media are making a big story out of Theo Walcott’s absence. However, I did not expect to see him this afternoon unless Tomas Rosicky had failed to recover given the proximity of the Tottenham game. Arsene commented yesterday,

He will get where I expect him to be. At the moment he is not. But I’m not worried personally. He plays on confidence and he has qualities that will come out

Walcott comes in for some unfair criticism at times although his performance against Birmingham was poor, his mind seemingly elsewhere. People forget he is a youngster, albeit one with an expensive price tag on his head. Being picked for the World Cup in 2006 was deemed to be folly on the part of Eriksson but it also raised expectations given the paucity of genuinely talented English players. Walcott has skill in abundance and has inconsistently proven that. Part of the problem as Arsene admits is the fault of his manager,

I tried to force him to play wide but today I am convinced he will be a central player. I think that is where he will be happiest because he is direct, he has good timing for his runs and I believe he will do well

Playing out of position is nothing unusual for Arsene’s charges though but I suspect that Walcott’s biggest problem is mental. He has had a congenital shoulder injury resolved which held him back but now apparently the problem is on the other side. It is an instinctive human reaction to protect an injured part of the body, to prevent more damage and that will affect the way in which he plays.

As a centre forward, he has shown that he can play well there at international level, albeit Under-21’s; the Premier League is somewhat more rough and tumble. At Arsenal the biggest cross he has to bear though is our weight of expectation on his fragile shoulders; we were spoilt rotten with Fabregas but instead of recognising that the Spaniard was unique in the sense of his maturity combined with skill, those levels are imposed on others and when they do not reach those standards, the brickbats are handed out far too readily. It is also a sign of the changing times; Arsenal used to be a place where the support gave players time to adapt and come through. Now in a football world where winning is the only thing that matters, that adaptation period is inconsiderately short.

Another aspect that people should remember is there own work performance at eighteen. Ask yourself this – were you totally consistent at eighteen? Unless you were a child prodigy, the answer is no nor did you have millions of people scrutinising your performance so cut the lad some slack.

Back to Fulham, a team in trouble and the sort that have given us trouble in the past. They will never be a top team but have struggled more this season, their current run is no wins in eleven games and are without a clean sheet in the last twelve of their Premier League matches. They readily concede at home which will hopefully allow Adebayor – congratulations to him on being the BBC’s African player of the Year (although why that award is over a calendar year and not a season is beyond me) – and Eduardo to ‘make hay’.

The team for this afternoon largely picks itself. If Rosicky is fully recovered, I expect him to start with Diaby on the bench; if not then the roles will be reversed:

Almunia; Sagna, Senderos, Gallas, Clichy; Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini, Rosicky; Adebayor, Eduardo

With a bench of

Lehmann, Hoyte (J), Gilberto, Bendtner, Diaby

This is a game we have to win, a draw whilst not being the end of the world would give United an edge which in the current run of fixtures that both sides have is unlikely to be surrendered easily.

Arsene cut some rumours dead in their tracks yesterday by denying that any of the Russian players with which we have been linked will be joining whilst also coming up with what can only be described as ‘tosh and piffle’ about the transfer window,

It is not necessarily a good idea because it can change the force inside the League. For example, teams who you have not played against at all are stronger. To me, it is not fair

I think that has to be described as one of the worst excuses I have ever heard and simply put, I do not believe he believes that for it defies logic in the illogical world of football. He also hit the nail on the head with Diarra,

I believe he was impatient especially because he had known a situation like that before at Chelsea. When he had exactly the same problem again, he panicked a little bit

Finally Gilberto answered a short Q&A on the UEFA website.

Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it. ‘til Tomorrow.