Red menace holds no fear for Coleman

Chris Coleman believes Arsenal are no longer the formidable proposition that once struck fear into the hearts of their opponents.

The Fulham manager takes his side to Highbury on Boxing Day hopeful that they capitalise on the Champions' unconvincing form of late. "I think when they were on that incredible unbeaten run they were playing some fantastic football, and a lot of the games they were playing as if they never felt they could lose," said Coleman.

"But by their standards it's not been a fantastic last six weeks and I think teams are playing against them with a lot less fear now - people look at them and think 'we can get points off them'."

One area that Fulham will be looking to exploit is Arsenal's vulnerability at defending set-pieces, though this season only Blackburn in the Premiership have scored fewer goals than Fulham from that department.

"It's something that we are working on," said Coleman. "We have got the likes of Papa Bouba Diop, Ian Pearce, Zesh Rehman and Brian McBride, who are all strong in the air, so we should be doing a lot better, especially with Mark Pembridge's delivery."

Meanwhile, Coleman denied reports that he has £6million at his disposal for next month's transfer window, though he admitted that Fulham are close to signing 18-year-old goalkeeper Ricardo Baptista from Portuguese side Vitoria Setubal.