After an eventful extended international break comes to a close, it’s time to turn our attentions back to club matters, and to the Premier League. Although, the top flight was the centre of attention throughout the three-week break, with Manchester City firmly on the naughty step.
Questions surrounding the ongoing (and quite tedious now) situation at Manchester City were bound to pop up during Alvaro Arbeloa’s press conference, along with the other 19 Premier League managers. However, I turned up to Motspur Park uninterested in putting those questions towards our Head Coach, and wanted to hear his thoughts on our actual club.
Arbeloa didn’t disappoint me by predictably swatting away questions about the disgraced club. I don’t think I could’ve scripted a more ideal answer to a question about how swiftly would he want a decision made on Manchester City’s potential sanctions.
Arbeloa: “I don’t care.”
Superb. He went on to say his focus is on tomorrow’s game. And that should be my focus now too.
Ipswich Town. A very impressive rise from League One to the Premier League with back-to-back promotions. They didn’t quite have the quality to survive in 2024-25, but they’re back up again and look a much better, and well-rounded side. Their squad has a good level of depth and balance, and I think tomorrow will be a really tough game for Fulham.
So when the first question was put to AA on team news. Arbeloa had this to say:
“We are very happy because everyone is back and fit. At the moment, everyone is available for tomorrow. Tete is much better. We are so happy to have TC back, but maybe a little too soon for him.”
Sounds like the squad is in a good place with no injury issues. However, when it came to the embargoed section, I asked him about Antonee Robinson, who must have arrived later than everyone else, given he played for the USA in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Arbeloa said this:
"He had some issues with his ankle yesterday, but we will see later. I don't know right now. I have no idea. I think he will be available, but I have to make a decision if I think he's ready for 90 minutes or he will just start on the bench. Right now I can't answer."
I decided to lift that from the embargoed section given it was quite a crucial bit of team news. So now we will have to see whether Jedi will start, or be benched. It paves the way for Ryan Sessegnon to potentially start for the first time this season in the league. He hasn’t played since a brief cameo against Crystal Palace over a month ago.
Oscar Bobb had a very good stint with Norway, scoring two goals to add on to his winning goal against West Ham - his first for the club. Arbeloa was quick to praise the winger.
“He scored more goals in one week than in the last few games with us, but I’m so happy because we need his goals. I know how talented Oscar is and he can score goals, he can assist and he’s a very good player in one-on-one situations. So I’m so happy that he could feel that he can score goals.
“I hope he can and he will be able to score more goals with us. He has the qualities, he has the talents and he has the attributes.
"So we have been working with him about this situation. I don’t know if you remember what we were talking about before I started talking about scoring goals. You have to think about your shooting, about finishing.
“And yes, I think he did very, very well in the last few games. And with his national team, he can score goals.”
It’s unclear at the moment whether or not Arbeloa will have a touchline ban for tomorrow’s game. I would imagine the FA will issue a statement confirming whether a punishment has been sanctioned, which may mean he’s unable to be on the touchline for a future game. We will see.
There’s more of Arbeloa’s quotes to come from 5pm this evening, they can be found on my X and Patreon pages.
Portman Road is a great ground and a convenient away day for London-based fans. I’m looking forward to seeing some Fulham fans on the train from London Liverpool Street tomorrow. Hopefully the weather is decent for what is a brilliant beer garden in the away pub opposition the station.
It’s good to have Fulham back in our lives and hopefully we will be celebrating Arbeloa’s first league win tomorrow night. Safe journey to all making the trip.
COYW!
As an American, I don’t know why Jedi was even playing in this window. Just a bunch of meaningless friendlies and now he has an ankle issue? Well, at least it may give Sess a start.