Arsenal and Fulham lock horns at Craven Cottage in another London derby offering from the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
And whilst the Gunners go into the game three days removed from a Europa League round of 16 first-leg clash away at Sporting CP, Cottagers boss Marco Silva is still expecting Mikel Arteta to name a strong side as the visitors look to keep their five-point lead at the top of the table intact.
"Let's see – you know that Arsenal have been doing this so far," he explained in the pre-match press conference. "I think their approach to the Europa League is always different than Premier League. Of course, they have some players injured and some illness during this week.
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"But, even so, they rested five players at least, and from the first Europa League match this season they have approached it in a different way, they have rotated the team and they have managed really well the situation. And what I saw from yesterday, they did again the same, they rotated the team, they had some key players that didn't start the game, and it will be a strong Arsenal [on Sunday] for sure.
"Okay, it's not a normal week, yesterday they had the game, the travel situation, but I think all of us understand that they rotate the team and, of course, they will be a very strong side on Sunday."
With that said, Silva won't be able to name his strongest team against Arsenal as influential midfielder Joao Palhinha is serving the final game of his two-match suspension as a result of receiving his 10th booking of the Premier League season in the 1-1 draw with Wolves a few weeks ago.
Although the Portugal international is not the only Fulham player that Silva will be without for the visit of the Premier League leaders as club captain Tom Cairney, Layvin Kurzawa - once linked with a move to north London and Neeskens Kebano are all sidelined because of injury.
Furthermore, as Premier League rules state that a player that has been loaned out is prohibited from playing against his parent club it means Cedric Soares - who joined the west London outfit on transfer deadline day in January - is ineligible on Sunday thus making it five senior players whom Silva can't call upon against the Gunners.
When the two sides met at the Emirates Stadium in the reverse fixture back in August, Fulham actually took the lead early in the second half through Aleksandar Mitrovic. However, goals from Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Magalhaes turned the game on its head as Arsenal maintained their perfect winning start to the campaign.
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