And even those odds, in a two-horse race, look generous to me. I really can't see anything other than another Arsenal win for ESPN's live game Saturday evening. The Gunners are running hot, that 8-2 scoreline at Old Trafford already feels like something from a parallel universe. Perverse bad luck for the Whites we didn't have them early in the fixture list. Wenger's credentials to remain in charge at the Emirates were being questioned just 12 weeks ago. Incredible. While his side are now on fire - having won five league games straight - Fulham's season is yet to ignite.
The redtops were running full page profiles of van Persie this week after his double downed Dortmund in the Champions League. Now here's a chilling stat for you. The Dutchman's 13 league goals this season match the entire output of the whole Fulham team... Only Christiano Ronaldo has scored more goals in the last calendar year.
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So here's a London derby that acts not just as a test of loyalty for every Whites fan, but a real test of character for Fulham's professional players. Not surprisingly, our followers have been fairly sombre this week across the web, while I was almost tempted to resurrect my spoof letter from 12 months ago whereby Hughes 'offered' to gift Arsenal a 3-0 win and save everyone the trouble of turning up. But that would only have freaked out all those third world Gooner fans again who took my 2010 posting at face value. There are large areas of the globe where British gallows humour still goes right over peoples heads.
Dare I suggest the best we can hope for come Saturday night is to have 'escaped' with a defeat that keeps the scoreline semi-respectable? A year ago we were well in the game at 1-1 until a mazy, magical dribble from Nasri ended our resistance. And as recently as May we were cruelly pegged back late on in the season closer, having twice been in front.
But the gulf between the two sides has widened to a chasm since. One of our goalscorer's at a sunny Cottage that day Steve Sidwell is still recovering from a hernia op. The day's other scorer, big Bobby, seems less settled and assured of what his role in the side now is. Questions remain if Jol knows how to get the best out of our international striker. Proof if you want it that our Dutch manager has but one game plan only is the bizarre fact that we have used the least number of players so far of any side in the league - just 20. Yet we are struggling along with a fair sprinkling of veterans just above the relegation zone.
From all this you will see why Jol is already beginning to sprout a nose as long as Pinocchio's when he repeats after every game that the 'side is playing well and it's all about to come together.' What's the betting Fulham's top scorer in all competitions this season (by some margin) starts on the bench? AJ is not going to lever himself into the side before January because Jol has decided he's surplus to requirements. Compare his stance over Andy's contract demands with his immediate - and strident - 'hands off' warning to any club with designs on Zamora or Dembele.
If Jol compounds this dogmatic view by playing weak-link Riiise at left-back, we are going into a run of really testing fixtures with two players persistently underperforming. I'm not singling out Dembele specifically for time on the bench, though I continue to wonder what warrants a price tag of £10 million for this ephemeral talent. The surprising disappointment so far this season has been Clint. Is it a case of slow burn-out? If I was a neutral observer surely last summer was the time for Dempsey to seek a new challenge. What else did he have to prove after four years at Fulham? At 28 he could have commanded a fee of £10 million and had his pick of elite clubs offering him a path into the Champions League. Are we now seeing the hangover from a lack of ambition on the part of both the player and his agent?
A pragmatic approach for Arsenal from Jol will determine a repeat of last week's dismal showing at Sunderland - three centre-halves strung across the back four, Etuhu told to put the emphasis on 'search and destroy,' no natural width of course with Duff injured (again), no natural support player for an isolated Zamora, and no progress up the left flank as Dempsey tucks infield and Walcott terrorises JAR, who spends the whole match back-pedalling. Digest all that and it comes down to Hangeland and Mark playing the game of their lives!
At the risk of a public stoning, a hammering for the Whites, something like 4-0, may actually be a blessing in disguise. It will force the board into a searching reassessment of their new manager and focus minds on the depth of the crisis. And what fate awaits our own poor cinderella? Will Bryan Ruiz again be watching from the subs bench, or will he cruelly be pitched in from the off to face the rampant Gunners carrying the tag of 'Fulham's great White Hope?
I never envisaged things coming to a head like this as we began the new season. I must confess to being as gloomy about our future prospects as at any time since taking over this blog 18 months ago. Looking out across the landscape this weekend, I'm watching Wigan's approach to their game at Sunderland with great interest. If they get a result there, and they just might, Bruce will be a gonner. Mrs. Jol is another who might not be around to take advantage of the January sales.
A time for bravehearts - and as this is Fulham FC after all, can we sneak it 0-1???
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