Fulham took a risk with the appointment of Alvaro Arbeloa following the departure of Marco Silva over the summer. Silva had hit all of the targets set out for him and kept Fulham in the top flight for three Premier League seasons without them ever really being in danger of relegation, but it felt like a harmonious parting of ways for both parties when the time came.

Arbeloa comes with limited managerial experience having had one season of senior management split across the Real Madrid B side and the first team having been temporarily promoted following the sacking of Xabi Alonso.

He's brought with him a host of Spanish imports in the hope of transforming Fulham into a more aggressive, front-foot possession-based team, but so far, it has yet to click.

The Cottagers sit in 19th position with just two points following three straight defeats at the start of the season. The two points, against Liverpool and Manchester United, came after Arbeloa made a tweak to his system to make them more solid defensively, leaving their centre-backs less exposed as you can see from their PPDA (opposition passes per defensive action) trend which is an indicator of how aggressively sides like to press.

Goalkeepers

It's another season between the sticks for 34-year-old Bernd Leno who has been Fulham's number one consistently since he joined in August 2022.

Benjamin Lecomte is the back-up and has featured in both cup games with American Alex Borto rounding off the trio.

Defence

One of Fulham’s main issues at the beginning of the season was finding a balanced centre-back pairing that fit Arbeloa’s desire to press high up the pitch. Both Joachim Andersen and Jorge Cuenca paired Calvin Bassey in the opening games, but the balance wasn’t there and Andersen in particular wasn’t pacy enough, whilst Cuenca is naturally left-footed and you rarely see two left-footed centre-backs playing together.

Enter summer signing David Affengruber, who has made an immediate impact, topping the Fulham squad in both clearances per 90 and ball wins in the midfield third per 90, whilst even getting on the scoresheet for his country during the international break.

Alongside him, Bassey is a physical unit of a defender who under Arbeloa has been given more freedom to progress out from the back with the ball. He's averaging more carries, take-ons, long balls and actions in the final third than under Silva which again highlights how aggressive this new look Fulham backline will be.

To counteract some of that aggression you can see from the average positions that Timothy Castagne is the deeper of the full-backs. At the start of the season, he was also quite aggressively positioned, but Arbeloa has realised he needed more cover on that side so Castagne now sits a bit deeper.

On the other side is Antonee Robinson, who is another who has been unshackled going forward. The American is part of an intricate left-sided overload strategy that comes with plenty of rotations. He sits in eighth place for most crosses from a full-back in the league with 18 so far. Leif Davis sits two positions lower with 14.

Ryan Sessegnon and Kenny Tete are the reserve full-backs.

Midfield

Another area where Arbeloa has had to do some tweaking is in midfield. An aggressive midfield with only one protector in Sander Berge has been altered to incorporate Shea Charles. Like Town's current midfield pairing, neither player is a destroyer, but they both have good off-the-ball attributes and both are comfortable on the ball.

Berge will bring experience to go alongside Charles's youthful exuberance with the youngster also already having 37 caps for Northern Ireland.

Ahead of them is 19-year-old Josh King, who has grown from a prodigious talent into arguably Fulham's key man. Arbeloa has given the youngster a free role in the number 10 slot which, as you can see from his average position, allows him to drift about into pockets of space. That's already paid dividends with two goals so far this season.

Harrison Reed has put in a couple of good performances in the cup with Eintracht Frankfurt loanee Hugo Larsson and Madrid B signing Manuel Ángel Morán providing the depth in the middle. Tom Cairney is another option but is currently injured.

Further ahead, Emile Smith-Rowe scored against Wimbledon in the cup but will likely have to settle for being King's deputy for now.

Forwards

The ever-versatile Alex Iwobi recently became just the fifth player to make 100 appearances for three different Premier League clubs (bonus points if you can guess the other four) and has already showcased his versatility this season, starting off the campaign in central midfield before being moved out onto the left wing, which has allowed him to be more of an effective attacking threat. He's in the top ten for through balls and big chances created with three of each so far this season.

His move forward has forced out César Palacios, who like Iwobi can play in central midfield as well as on the left. Another recruit from Madrid Castilla, the 21-year-old will feel unfortunate to have lost his place having scored against Crystal Palace and notched up a goal and an assist against West Ham in the cup.

Similarities to Ipswich continue with Oscar Bobb on the right-hand side. The former Manchester City player, who had just come back from a serious injury prior to his move to Fulham, is a tricky winger who isn't shy about carrying the ball and taking on his man.

Kevin, who lit up the Premier League last season with spells of trickery and individual brilliance, seems to have fallen out of favour under the new management team but is likely to get minutes off the bench.

Leading the line is the third of the Madrid signings, Gonzalo Garcia. The centre-forward scored eight goals in 39 appearances in all competitions for the Spanish giants last season but, having started the campaign with goals against Chelsea and Wimbledon, has failed to find the back of the net in his last five appearances. He's not your archetypal Premier League striker and will often drift to help the left-sided overload previously mentioned as a way of allowing him to get more involved in the game.

That's left some fans calling for Brazilian Rodrigo Muniz to start in his place as the 25-year-old offers more physicality. However, one goal in 21 appearances last season hasn't left him with the best claim to be leading the line.

Prediction

If this had been the second game of the season when Arbeloa was still figuring things out, I'd have gone with a Town win here, but the Cottagers have put in a couple of solid performances in their last two games. Like the last two matches between these sides, I think this one has got draw written all over it. 1-1.

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