Arsenal Invincible Ray Parlour believes his former club must be wary of Fulham, and in particular Emile Smith Rowe, when they go to Craven Cottage for their fourth London derby this season.
Fulham are having a brilliant season and went into Gameweek 15 sixth in the Premier League table, ahead of both Tottenham and Manchester United.
And Arsenal will be prepared, not least because of the fact they dropped five points against Marco Silva’s side last season.
The Cottagers may also be boosted because of all the ex-Arsenal players they have. They have four in Bernd Leno, Smith Rowe, Alex Iwobi and on loan Reiss Nelson, who is not allowed to play against his parent club.
Smith Rowe became Fulham’s club record signing when he switched from Arsenal last summer in a deal that could rise to around £35M. And the attacking midfielder has started well with five goal involvements.
Parlour said: “I’m sure Smith Rowe will be right up for the game. He’s got a lot of friends in that camp as well. He had a lot of mates at Arsenal, people like Bukayo Saka he grew up with, and come through the ranks with.
“But they still want to go and prove (Arsenal) wrong. They want to have a good season. Fulham are in a decent position at the moment in the league. They want to try and get top eight maybe, which will be a fantastic season for them.”
Parlour knows what it’s like to play against a former side. “I remember playing for Middlesbrough and we went back to Highbury and they were on that unbeaten run. We were 3-1 up and I’m thinking, I’m going to be on the side that ends Arsenal’s record run, which won’t be good. But it’s a situation where you want to prove people wrong.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked if he regretted selling his Hale End Academy product. He said: “It was a very tough decision to let Emile go, especially because personally I feel really grateful for what he did for the club and for me in a period of time that I think he was instrumental to change something around it. But at the end, players have to play.
“He had a lot of difficult moments, a lot of struggles with injuries when we were together and he needed a fresh start. It’s normal, we understood that and we allowed him to go.”
Parlour, speaking with Hayters on behalf of NetBet Sports Bettingadded: “They’ve (Arsenal) got to be on their toes against Fulham because they’re a decent side. They go through the lines. I think Marco Silva has done a really good job.
“They had that little bit of a blip against Wolves when they lost 4-1, didn’t see that coming. But they got back to winning ways and a good point against Spurs. I thought it would be a tricky game for Spurs, but I did fancy Spurs to get all three points there, to be honest.”
