Arsene Wenger says Arsenal must be focussed at Fulham to ensure their Premier League season gathers more momentum.

The Gunners head to Craven Cottage for Saturday`s early evening kick-off on the back of an opening-day win over West Brom and looking to progress through to the group stages of the Champions League in the second leg of their qualifier against FC Twente next week.

However, with most of the squad having been away on international duty around the globe, Wenger accepts turning attentions back to the job at hand will be vital.

"Fulham have a strong squad, and their team look more dangerous going forwards than they did last year. If you add to that it will be a derby, you want a game where you have complete focus," said the Arsenal manager.

"We know the success of our season is based on how quickly we can focus again on club targets after international games."

Holland forward Robin van Persie, who scored against Russia in midweek, should come back into the starting line-up alongside Emmanuel Adebayor having started the West Brom match on the bench.

The Togo international is still to win over some of the Arsenal fans following a summer of transfer speculation linking him with a move to AC Milan.

However, with a new deal now signed to stay at Emirates Stadium - and for less than would have been on offer elsewhere - Wenger sees no reason why Adebayor should face any hostility.

"I believe that Emmanuel has been unfairly treated, because he had a lot of interest from many big clubs and he always told me one-to-one his preference was to stay. In the end he stayed," Wenger explained.

"That story did not come out like that in the press and unfortunately he is paying a price for a story which is not really him.

"He made a press conference in Austria where people interpreted his statements a bit differently, but I know what he told me, and I know he made sacrifices to stay."

Wenger added: "I was convinced he wanted to stay, but I was not always convinced he would stay because there is a big difference in that.

"People have advisors and some clubs pay higher wages than we do, we have to accept that."

New signing Mikael Silvestre, the 31-year-old former Manchester United defender, may not feature in this afternoon's clash, but Cameroon midfielder Alex Song should come back into contention after returning from the Olympics.

Euro 2008 winner Cesc Fabregas will, though, not be rushed following a hamstring problem and instead has been pencilled in against Steve McClaren's Dutch outfit, who trail 2-0, on Wednesday night.