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EPL Arsenal will be greeted by familiar faces when they make the 10-mile trip across London to face Fulham on Sunday. Fulham have three Arsenal academy graduates and their former first-team goalkeeper, Bernd Leno. Reiss Nelson is ineligible to play because of the terms of his loan move but he, Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi represent the non-linear paths that players and clubs sometimes take to evolve. Advertisement Each player is at a different stage of their career. Iwobi, the eldest at 28, was the first to leave Arsenal, in 2019. His move to Everton came after his most productive season in an Arsenal shirt, three goals and six assists in the league, but he has since explained on The Beautiful Game Podcast that the feeling of being wanted is part of what appealed to him. His current manager Marco Silva, then at Everton, convinced him, telling Iwobi he would play behind the striker — a position he thrived in as a youth player before breaking through on the wings in Arsenal’s first team. “I wanted to have my own legacy, ” Iwobi said in the podcast. “I didn’t want to be that kid that’s just the academy product — I wanted to grow as a man as well and challenge myself. ” Iwobi has largely been the master of his destiny since then. While his Everton career was not straightforward, Frank Lampard moved him back into a central position and he helped them avoid relegation with two goals and seven assists in the 2022-23 season. He has also made 83 appearances for Nigeria, helping them to a runners-up spot at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations. Reunited with Silva, he is one of Fulham’s main threats, already outperforming his seven goals and assists from last season with eight combined this term (five goals and three assists). He was a leading example for youngsters at Arsenal, assisting Smith Rowe’s first goal for the club against Qarabag in 2018 and appearing alongside a 15-year-old Nelson against Bayern Munich in the 2015-16 UEFA Youth League. Iwobi was key to helping Smith Rowe settle shortly after his move to Fulham this summer, gatecrashing the England international’s medical to say an excited hello. Days later, he did something similar, conducting Smith Rowe’s post-match interview after the 24-year-old scored on his unofficial debut. The vibes were there. Advertisement The pair hit it off on the pitch, too. Iwobi assisted Smith Rowe in a 2-0 friendly win over Hoffenheim and that connection has continued to be fruitful in the Premier League. In the early weeks of this season, the duo would interchange positions on the left flank and more centrally. Their understanding was instinctive and made for excellent viewing as their technical abilities complemented each other brilliantly. The best example came when Iwobi returned to Goodison Park, finishing cooly after Smith Rowe’s mazy run beat four players. After Thursday night’s 3-1 win over Brighton, Fulham have equalled their best start to a Premier League season, with 22 points from 14 games putting them sixth. The only time they have amassed as many points this early was in the 2003-04 season. Iwobi is the player Smith Rowe has passed to the most this season (91 times) — 41 of those have been in the final third, more than any other combination of Fulham players, while Iwobi is ranked second across the Premier League for through balls (10) and first for passes into the penalty area (33). The pair could have had one more goal involvement each had Smith Rowe’s second strike against Crystal Palace, who also wanted him in the summer, not been ruled out for offside last month. Iwobi joked that Smith Rowe had been doing too much upper-body work in the gym in their joint-post-match interview, before bringing these memes to the fore: Alex Iwobi’s camera roll >>> https: //t. co/bx Rsl OKhj S pic. twitter. com/UFCNRV1hgp — Fulham Football Club (@Fulham FC) November 12, 2024

Smith Rowe’s time at Arsenal came to what ultimately felt like a natural end. Despite his talent and Mikel Arteta’s sadness at his departure, he only registered 525 Premier League minutes across his last two seasons in north London. He bettered that after eight league matches with Fulham this season and after the Brighton win, he sits at 1, 009 minutes across 14 games. Smith Rowe is benefiting from taking charge of his career. An England international with three caps, Smith Rowe’s talent is undoubted but Fulham have given him the chance to prove he can be consistently relied upon in the Premier League. Speaking to the BBC in October, Nelson said: “Having a fit Emile Smith Rowe, he can play in any team in the world. And me playing consistently would be very good to see. ” Nelson’s situation is slightly different. He is still contracted to Arsenal until 2027, with the option of an extra year. Seven months older than Smith Rowe, he has been a known talent for almost a decade. The Athletic’s Amy Lawrence was at their UEFA Youth League match against Bayern Munich, where Nelson was taking advice from then-coach Thierry Henry. Advertisement In his teens, Arteta coached Nelson while the now-Arsenal manager was doing his badges. Arteta has always been fond of the winger, starting him in his first three matches in charge, but then the opportunities dried up. The 488 minutes Nelson has played in the league this season for Fulham is more than he had amassed in a season at Arsenal since the 2019-20 campaign (631 minutes). Signed on deadline day, the 24-year-old’s first involvement did not come until after the September international break. Coming off the bench against West Ham United, his first touch was to bring down a crossfield pass with his chest, beating a defender as he did so. He looked lively and built on this week by week, leading to his first league start against Brentford in late October. He has started five games since then, completing a trio behind Raul Jimenez with Smith Rowe and Iwobi. He has taken the left berth, with Smith Rowe moving into the No 10 spot and Iwobi playing off the right (apart from the 3-1 win over Brighton when Iwobi started in central midfield). In that new configuration, Smith Rowe has created five chances for Nelson, and Nelson has created four chances for Iwobi. “When you look back at it, you think, ‘That’s a crazy journey’, ” Nelson told the BBC about his and Smith Rowe’s pathways. “A lot of players don’t go through the journey together. Being at Fulham, sometimes you feel like it’s meant to be. When you see us playing together, you can see the chemistry. ” A season-long loan is not unfamiliar territory for Nelson. He benefited from the coaching of Arne Slot at Feyenoord in the 2021-22 season, where he learned to take better care of his body and brought more clarity to his play. That confidence and flair was seen in flashes in the past two seasons at Arsenal but is a regular theme at Fulham, who will be hoping Nelson recovers swiftly from a suspected hamstring injury suffered against Brighton. Whether that leads to another chance at Arsenal or a permanent departure remains to be seen but Iwobi represents the spark for an important aspect of Arsenal’s business over the past five years: academy sales. In April 2023, academy manager Per Mertesacker told The Athletic: “In the last five, six years, if you look at £20million-plus sales, you have to look at Alex Iwobi, Joe Willock, Emiliano Martinez. These are the players who probably funded the investment we made. ” Iwobi left for an initial £28million ($36m) that could rise to £34m after Nicolas Pepe had already been signed in the summer of 2019. Willock is another good example as he was sold for £25m to Newcastle United a week before Arsenal bought Martin Odegaard permanently from Real Madrid for £30m. More work of this nature came this summer, with the sales of Smith Rowe (£27m potentially rising to £34m) and Eddie Nketiah (£25m potentially rising to £30m) generating around £60m. Advertisement Iwobi, however, is the best example of what life after Arsenal can look like for former academy players who leave and bet on themselves. He still makes time to connect with Arsenal’s academy prospects, last month vlogging a technical training session with fellow east Londoner Josh Nichols, who made his Arsenal debut in September. In the professional setup, Smith Rowe has followed Iwobi’s footsteps, making an encouraging start to life away from Arsenal. Nelson, who turns 25 next week, and others much younger could do the same in the coming years. It does not mean they are not talented players — just that the harsh realities of football mean that situations can change quickly. (Top photos: Getty Images) Get all-access to exclusive stories. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us. Art de Roché began covering Arsenal for football. london in 2019 as a trainee club writer. Beforehand, he covered the Under-23s and Women's team on a freelance basis for the Islington Gazette, having gained experience with Sky Sports News and The Independent. Follow Art on Twitter @Artde Roche