Mikel Arteta has Arsenal revenge plan up his sleeve as Marco Silva sends cheeky reminder

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta will be out for revenge when his side take on Fulham on Sunday after Marco Silva’s side had a role in derailing their Premier League title challenge – and the Portuguese is hoping for a repeat performance.

Arsenal lost 2-1 at Craven Cottage in this fixture last season while drawing 2-2 at the Emirates – and Arteta is under no illusions that it will be a tough game.

“It’s going to be a big challenge which we experienced last year when we lost five points against them,” Arteta said. “I have been very complimentary about them, the coach and what they do, so it’s always a really tough place to go.”

Much has been made about Arsenal’s ability to score from set-piece situations over the past two seasons, with specialist coach Nicolas Jover receiving the plaudits for executing their effective training ground routines.

Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey both scored from set-piece situations in the 2-0 win over Manchester United on Wednesday, underlining the Gunners’ incredible ability.

But Fulham boss Silva reminded the Gunners of how they managed to snuff them out on two occasions last year with some defensive rearguard action and the Cottagers plan to do the same again, using the Gunners’ own speciality against them.

“Last season, we did really well in that situation, we scored twice against them in set-pieces last season, and the reality is that they didn’t score [from a set-piece] against us, and let’s hope we can repeat the same,” Silva said.

Arteta is constantly striving for perfection and improvement and, having mastered set pieces, the Spaniard is focusing on other areas that require attention – such as pressing and attacking open spaces on the counter attack.

But he sounded a warning that his side want to set-piece ‘kings’, which suggests he may have another trick up his sleeve for Sunday’s clash.

If aerial threat Gabriel Magalhaes can prove his fitness, the Brazilian might just be that man after scoring three goals this season.

“We want to be the kings of everything – at set pieces, the best in the world, at high press, the best in the world, attacking open spaces, the best in the world,” Arteta said. “We want the best atmosphere in the stadium, and be the best at everything.

“Before it was about we didn’t score enough, we were so defensive in our mentality, we were not physical enough and could not challenge the top teams and going 17, 20 years without winning away from home in big matches.

“We want to be the best at everything, we want to have the best academy, the best individual development for players, recruit the best players and have the best coaches. That’s the aim and now we have to go and do something else.”

Both sides will know each other fairly well, with Fulham trio Bernd Leno, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson all working underneath Arteta during his five-year tenure at the Emirates.

That will add extra spice to the London derby clash, with anything but a win likely to dent Arsenal’s chances of claiming the title at the third attempt.