Fulham v Arsenal: Premier League – live

26 min Good work from Trossard, diddling Tete with a Cruyff turn and slinging a fine cross over to the back post … where Saka can only wave a foot at it, diverting the ball behind. The home crowd laugh.

24 min Timber inverts and makes space, finding Trossard on the left, and his first time pass, turns infield and in behind, sends Rice bullocking clear. And as the ball drops, he gets decent contact on a shot across goal, but it skips wide. That’s the difference, really: from a similar position, Jimenez delivered an expert’s precision, whereas Rice did well but not well enough.

24 min Elsewhere, Ipswich lead Bournemouth 1-0.

23 min Now Arsenal win a free-kick out on the right, but this time Saka flights straight at Leno, who gets rid.

22 min … and this time the delivery is fantastic, the ball spitting in and Leno doing really well to punch clear from on his line by the near post.

22 min Another Arsenal corner…

20 min Odegaard works it out to Saka but he’s forced backward.Then, when the ball comes back, Jorginho lifting over the top to find him in space for the first time today, his cross is kicked away by Bassey with Havertz on his heels.

19 min More Arsenal possession, but to little current avail.

17 min I think I’ve done Fulham a disservice: I began my description of the goal with Leno’s kick out, but he received the ball from a teammate, part of a move that involved 23 passes and every player bar Traore. Great stuff.

16 min For all their possession, so far, Arsenal have yet to penetrate – it’s been all in front of Fulham.

14 min And actually, it’s also a reflection of the wider world: living in it are more brilliant footballers than ever before, so obviously the league with the most money has the most of them.

12 min This is the thing with the Premier League: every side has players who can do you.

WHAT A GOAL! Fulham 1-0 Arsenal (Jiménez 11)

10 min We see a replay of some proactive defending from Traore, who drags Slaliba out of play. He’ll need to be careful if that’s his plan, because not every official will tolerate that every time.

9 min …and this time it’s Saka who’ll take the kick, this time picking out Berge who heads away at the front post.

8 min Out to Saka and, with Robinson probably expecting him to come inside, he drags outside, crosses, and here comes another corner…

8 min The camera seems to have been stuck at the top of The Shard.

7 min “Not sure that being weak and slow are issues,” says David Penney of Jorginho; “he has a side of Rice.”

That’s definitely helpful, but it’s not enough I don’t think.

6 min Arsenal knock it about; Fulham have barely had a kick so far.

4 min On which point, I wonder if Rice, not good enough on the half-turn to be a top-level six and not good enough on the ball to be a top-level eight, has realised he needs to add value, so has made it his business to add set-piece delivery to his, er, arsenal. Good for him if so.

3 min And here we go, Iwobi concedes a corner and Rice is on it. The big men gather beyond the back post and the “Oooooh…!” begins in the away end. The delivery, of course, is exemplary and Saliba is up … but the ball glances off his head and wide of the far stick.

1 min Aaaand away we go!

Here come our teams…

No doubt breath and hooks are long since – respectively – bated and tentered, so let’s end the suspense: here my annual playlist of the year’s best Afrobeats and amapiano.

“Good to see Fulham getting decent coverage at last,” chunters Richard Hirst. “All the plaudits for ‘unexpected success’ are going to Forest, but Marco Silva has done and is doing a tremendous job in resurrecting the careers of several players. It would be wonderful to see Iwobi and Smith Rowe prosper this afternoon.”

Can’t argue with that, he’s doing a fantastic job. It’s almost as if Watford and Everton are competence hoovers and failure there tells us little about the competence of any manager.

Other things Fulham might try: getting Smith Rowe in and around Jorginho, who passes nicely but is weak and slow; stopping passes into Odegaard, without whom Arsenal do’t have much creativity in midfield.

Of course, this match isn’t all we’ve got for you:

Back to our preamble, how will Fulham defend Arsenal’s corners? Calvin Bassey looked a player at Rangers, has improved since then, and is exactly the kind of dominating presence likely to take responsibility for doing whatever is necessary to get the ball away. The height of Berge and Lukic will also be helpful, probably a further reason the latter has come into the side today.

Craven Cottage, by the way: what a football ground, and what a place in which to slake thirst prior to going in.

“Arsenal fans will feel at least a slight pull of the heartstrings to see the names of Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi on the opposition teamsheet,” writes Charles Antaki. “Lovely footballers and, seemingly, charming young men who didn’t quite make it; but, yes, the club was right to allow them to leave. Patchy form, injuries, and crucially, the emergence of reliably better players did for them. So may they prosper and flourish at Fulham, except between 2 o’clock and 3.30 today. Say 4 o’clock, just in case.”

Yes, agreed. Both good and fun players – had he stayed fit, perhaps things might’ve gone differently for Smith Rowe – and both capable of causing aggravation this afternoon.

Email! “Especially big shout out for Lukic amongst Fulham’s ex-Arsenal contingent,” chuckles Mammillaria Hahniana. “Respect.”

He just goes on and on.

Arsenal, meanwhile, will do a version of what they always do. Play will go through Martin Odegaard and they’ll aim to get Bukayo Saka on the ball as often as possible. His battle with the excellent Antonee Robinson should be a lot of fun to watch.

So where is the game for Fulham? My sense is they’ll try and block up the middle with Berge and Lukic, rely on their centre-backs to defend the box properly, and look to get the ball wide quickly when in possession.

Of course, that’s not the size of it with Arsenal. They’re already without Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori and Benjamin White, news which won’t have escaped Marco Silva. In midweek, Manchester United’s failure to target Zinchenko, not the world’s greatest defender, was odd in the extreme, but it seems inconceivable that whichever of Iwobi and Traoré plays on the left won’t be ordered to go after Partey, no kind of right-back. And it’s also likely that Jiménez will target Kiwior, with Lukic brought in to the stiffen the midfield, partly because of Arsneal’s attacking prowess but partly to allow their gamechangers the freedom to play.

As for Arsenal, they’re without the injured Zinchenko, so Thomas Partey moves to full-back with Jorginho coming into midfield, while in attack, it’s Leandro Trossard not Gabriel Martinelli.

Marco Silva makes four changes to the side which beat Brighton. Out go Castagne, Wilson and Muniz, who are on the bench, with Kenny Tete, Sasa lukic and Raúl Jiménez coming in; also missing is Reiss Nelson, injured, but unable to play against is parent club in any case, and his spot goes to Adam Traoré.

Ah, not quite yet – Artetz speaks. He says Zinchenko is injured but his players have to adapt as is necessary during a season and he’s sure they’ll be fine. He knows Fulham have good attackers, but he knows if you play in England there’ll be weather, you just have to make the most out whatever you’re served.

He’s sure his team will get closer to the leaders but they have to earn the right to win here, against a side with a good manager who are talented and consistent.

I’ll write these down, then we’ll have a think about what they mean.

Let’s have some teams…

Preamble