Etuhu: Fulham will be focused against Gunners

The Premier League turned down Fulham’s request to have today’s match at Arsenal brought forward by 24 hours to give players more time to recover for Wednesday’s showpiece event against Atletico Madrid in Hamburg. But Etuhu said Friday that there is “no chance” that Hodgson will tolerate any slacking by players trying to avoid injury […]

The Premier League turned down Fulham’s request to have today’s match at Arsenal brought forward by 24 hours to give players more time to recover for Wednesday’s showpiece event against Atletico Madrid in Hamburg.

But Etuhu said Friday that there is “no chance” that Hodgson will tolerate any slacking by players trying to avoid injury or aiming to keep something back for the club’s first ever European final.

“That’s the thing about this manager,” the Nigeria international said. “He’s always looking ahead to the next game. We’re thinking about Wednesday, but he’s talking about Arsenal.”

But Hodgson will decide after training Saturday how many first-team players to rest in preparation for the biggest match in the small west London club’s history.

Hodgson hopes to have striker Bobby Zamora and winger Damien Duff fit Wednesday, but will rest the pair at Emirates Stadium in the hope that they will recover from injury.

Zamora has missed Fulham’s last two Premier League matches because of an Achilles injury and Duff has been having spells in an oxygen chamber to boost his recovery from a leg injury he sustained in the second leg of the semifinal against Hamburg.

Hodgson, who several colleagues including Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson say should win the manager of the year award, rested much of his team at Everton ahead of last month’s 2-1 second-leg win over Hamburg.

Another weakened lineup could help Arsenal get the point it needs to make sure of third place in the Premier League and automatic Champions League qualification.

“When was the last time we won at the Arsenal?” Hodgson asked. “It probably goes back to about 1936. Arsenal will be expecting to beat us whatever team we put out.”

Fulham has never won at Arsenal.