Taarabt eager for Arsenal clash

Fulham playmaker Adel Taarabt is confident they can bounce back from their 4-1 Premier League defeat to Sunderland against Arsenal.

Rene Meulensteen’s side were dealt a major blow when they were convincingly beaten 4-1 by fellow strugglers Sunderland at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Fulham are in FA Cup action against Norwich City on Tuesday before they travel to title-chasing Arsenal at the weekend.

But Taarabt expects his side to raise their game for the trip to the Emirates Stadium, and is not ruling out springing a shock.

“When we play big teams we have to go there and try and get points,” he told the club’s official website.

“If we get one point then great, but why not try and get three? We have nothing to lose.

“Arsenal will be the favourites but in this league anything can happen and that’s how we have to approach the game.”

Fulham have been in mixed form of late, winning two of their last five but conceding 13 goals in that time.

Taarabt feels Fulham have been playing well, but let themselves down against Gus Poyet’s side on Saturday.

“We haven’t been playing too badly of late but if we’d have won against Sunderland, we could have been as high as 12th or 13th in the table,” he continued.

“We said before the Norwich City league match on Boxing Day that if we could take nine points from the next four games we’d be very happy.

“We just took six which isn’t bad but Sunderland was a big day for us and we didn’t perform.”