Arsenal rescued a point against Fulham thanks to an injury time equaliser from Eddie Nketiah.
The visitors took the lead in the second half after being awarded a penalty for a dive, while the Gunners had a goal disallowed in the first half when Bukayo Saka’s toe was offside before Dani Ceballos headed home.
It was a turgid affair though, with Mikel Arteta’s men narrowly avoiding a 13th Premier League defeat of the season, and a disappointing day despite the late goal.
Here’s how the players rated.
Read the Arsenal 1-1 Fulham match report and see the goals here
Arsenal 1-1 Fulham – Player Ratings
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We are playing in the Europe as our owners have signed up for European Super League and it’s official. Which means we’re banned from playing UEFA matches for a year.
yay no more thursday night footballno but in all honesty a super league would completely destroy football, really wish super league doesn’t go through
True that. I agree. The super league would mean a competition limited to Owners with deep pockets where every match turns out to be an El Cashico similar to the Indian Premier League (Cricket).
true man
btw are you from india, or do you simply follow the ipl
No, but I follow RCB. Such deadly combo to support both Arsenal and RCB.
lmao few of my friends here in india are rcb, and it is painful at times supporting it
🤣🤣🤣
I do watch IPL and nothing can be more scripted than IPL 😀 it is fun though!!
Wrestling?
Cricket
Could you link me to the article stating that it’s official?
I don’t think Arsenal are good enough to be considered for the European Super League, unless it’s the Top 10 teams from each league.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/18/five-english-clubs-sign-up-to-european-super-league-report-says
Looks like not just UEFA but domestic matches as well.
https://mobile.twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1383806997930205191
Thanks for the link. It will be a sad day if it ever goes through, and it will certainly be the day I stop watching elite football. I already find it hard enough to follow knowing how much corruption, power and money is involved, but this would be the end for me.
nah, but the times (i guess) say that the top 6 english clubs have signed it, and the prem and uefa have released statements condemning it
also stan will hold a position as vice chaiman or something according to this article
https://onefootball.com/en/news/premier-league-and-uefa-condemn-european-super-league-plans-32810167
https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1383806997930205191?s=20
It’s not an official thing. Just confirmed approval by executives of various football clubs (including ours) of the proposal. It’s definitely not what most fans want, myself included.
It doesn’t seem worth if this is the response of the continental and national football authorities. If it actually does happen, it would be like how Bitcoin exists unofficially outside of the scope of most central banks.
What I think of all the clubs and people involved in this rhymes with clucking bunts. I’m sorry, I’m an Arsenal fan but this is a step towards taking th magic out of football.
I get the hate, but it’s the same as the hate from the lower league clubs when the PL was formed. Only on a greater scale.
Any club joining this breakaway super league would also see their players banned from World Cups and European Championships according to FIFA and UEFA.
Great. No more of our players playing 12 month seasons where they play games in a fortnight for their countries and break down on their return to the clubs that pay them.
Interesting, but not surprising, that the old fox Perez at Real Madrid is the moving force behind it. Say what you like about the concept, or about Perez come to that, but he has a finger in more pies than he’s got fingers!
I’m confident that a European Super League would become a failed project really quickly
Arsenal would then be begging the PL to take us back
The fans don’t want it, and if the paying customer no longer wants to engage with your product
Then you’re fu*ked
There’s absolutely no desire from anyone outside a few greedy owners for this thing to happen
It’s bizarre, and really highlights the disconnect between fans and the owners
Including teams that are 7th and 9th in PL just makes a mockery of the Super title. Much like Champions League being contested by non-champions.
Thought Saka was really good in the second half, what a player
There are some real building blocks in this squad but a lot of holes as well
Basically played as both right back and right winger at the same time
He put some great balls into the box. If we had a better striker we may have had some chances from his hard work.
Elbackwards and spinning top from Madrid ensured we maintained a dead midfield
Hard to forget that Ceballos dive against Slavia. Poo
Horrible pairing
10/10 for KROENKE SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT for supplying football fans with some riveting sporting entertainment.
The franchise goes from strength to strength.
A recent survey suggests Arsenal Town are a great team to watch for folk who enjoy their soccer but don’t care who wins.
There’s no I in TEAM, but there is one in FRANCHISE.
Now let’s all cheer on for the Colorado Ringpulls v Kentucky Transformers!
How many players do we need to buy? 1 striker, 1 attacking mid, 3 central mid, 1 rb, 1 lb, 1 cb. My goodness we are screwed…
I don’t think we need a CB or a right back. 3 CM? Who will play over Partey? An attacking mid??? We have Martinelli and Nelson who are looking like top prospects, and can’t get into the team.
I don’t agree with your doomsday theory.
Well we got 2 players on loan in middle. So there’s space for an upgrade on Xhaka and Elneny.
We also got 2 players on loan.
Wonder if either Torreira or Guendouzi will be back in the squad next season.
You’ve missed out the most important position which is a top keeper
Leno is a top keeper.
Only one center back? We need 2 world class center backs and then a strong backup along with holding as a backup. The rest are lousy. And slow.
1 back up LB,
1 midfielder- hopefully better than Xhaka
1 back up GK
1 attacking player if Laca leaves.
We’ve really struggled before this season against teams with a low block. Definitely think there’s a lack in the squad of an energetic bully type striker or aerial target like Giroud to mix things up. Odegaard might have made a difference today. we’re over reliant on two brilliant youngsters who have both been injured and risked being overplayed because they’re so vital. Also don’t think anyone in the midfield really offers much bursting forward, or taking people on to make space. It’s just far too ponderously slow at the moment.
Totally agree with that, didn’t see much in terms on one touch passing in and around the box, speed of passing in the final third is key.
Much to slow
All the screaming on here to play all the youngsters, this is what you get. They will be up and down over games.
They’ve all got potential but need the experience and to show they can handle pressure. Just imagine the stick Auba/Laca would have received for missing the chances Gabi had. I love his direct approach but needs a bit more awareness of the game around him – it will come.
Are you suggesting that Willian could have turned that around and maybe Luiz wouldn’t have done that penalty?
The point of play9ng the youth is that we would have ended here anyways so it’s better playing people who can actually been sold like Nketiah or AMN or Willock
No, my point is that people must accept that results with youngsters will vary and not to just go overboard with ” rubbish performance” comments. Personally, I’m happy to have youngsters playing ahead of Willian but the general truth is still that you’ll win nowt with a team of kids (albeit there are exceptions)
We had enough chances, they just weren’t taken. You just can’t consistently not score with the chances we get then be needing a goal with 15 minutes to go like we have had over and over this year. We are a better team than say, Leicester or Spurs, but those teams have scored a lot more goals early in matches then been able to control the rest of the match.
we really need midfield upgrades, too passive at times
our attack and defence are in a better shape thanks to the youngsters, etc. but apart from partey and at times xhaka (when he doesn’t make errors and is alongside partey) our midfield is really mediocre and lacking options
At the end of the season someone must collect the best goal celebrations in vain. Thanks to VAR
So true. People say the game’s gone, and it has. You literally cannot celebrate anymore
When are people going to sit up and take notice? It is the whole point of football. The simple act of celebrating a goal.
I’d rather that than have to stew over a loss for days due to a shite refrerring mistake or missed offside.
Personally, it’s better to get the decisions right and know that at the end of the season the team is where it is because of the players performances.
All we need now is for the corrupt band of brothers in PGMOL to allow the evidence from VAR to be used in an objective way, then.
Hear hear….even though there continue to be some terribly dubious calls even with VAR in place….I like the fact that the ppl making these mistakes can no longer hide behind the excuse they didn’t see it real time….
Arseblog if you no ability to be impartial you are wasting your time with doing player ratings, Lacazette put Martinelli through, he couldn’t score, so he was a threat then wasn’t he? Martinelli fluffed 4 chances, 3 goals and a simple pass that would have lead to a good chance. I remember Laca had a similar thing some games ago and you targeted him and Martinelli did the same thing and you ignore it, for heaven sake, I am annoyed as it is that we cannot beat Fulham now I have to look at opinions that haven’t had an ounce… Read more »
Which footbal fan is impartial? It’s opinions. Go and rate the way you feel.
For someone who has done podcasts and has written blogs for years and years, amazing ones too, you would think that he could be anywhere near impartial
Opinions are partial. Imagine if the penalty was conceded by David Luiz. The ratings and the comment section would be crazy.
God forbid the guy that created this platform for us have a right to express his opinion in a matter that actually requires an opinion. You need to check yourself sir.
So Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram doesn’t exist does it? We have many platforms to express opinions. The problem is that people in general do not have an opinion of their own and when they look at popular people’s views they get influenced so easily. Him slagging off Lacazette constantly leads to other people slagging Lacazette because people such as yourself do not think, and he has disrespected Lacazette multiple times this season, and people look up to this because he is well known, and what does this lead to: abuse.
To the players, and when a player is playing well and he gets criticism it is incredibly insulting
Do you really think Laca cares what we think? Or reads about it?
‘He looked tired as he’s played a lot and didn’t pose a threat’….wow! That’s some brutal slagging off right there. Blogs even half excused the fact he didn’t pose a threat by referencing tiredness. Its good you have your own opinion based presumably by what you see and how you feel about the game. Equally it’s for others to judge for themselves. If they don’t do that and they simply want to follow the opinion of others then that’s on them. Same goes for abuse, that’s got nothing to do with agreeing with someone else’s opinion. Its about the individual… Read more »
This isn’t slagging off what the hell man, I wasn’t even talking about that, but comparing him to Chamakh, making a rude remark to his stamina despite him working his ass off for the team as he does in the past is slagging him off
The rude remark he made was quite recent, it did not happen today
Yaya is that you?
Now, for the ounce of thought in the opinions. One is a proven, 29 year old striker that cost nearly 50 million euro. The other is a 19 year old who has played about 600 minutes this season (+-7 full games). I feel there are two ways you can handle these informations when trying to turn your analysis of a individual performance into an objective metric: you either ignore them completely, because “the game is played on the pitch” and as such only attribute scores based on what a player should be doing in this or that specific moment of… Read more »
Okay I understand your point, and yes there is some thought put into it. However, 2 things he expects Martinelli to be replacing Lacazette next season, based on what, as you said 700 minutes, and also however much he played last season, so clearly he has certain expectations of him. He clearly doesn’t rate Laca that highly, he called him a good player with such hesitation in the podcast, in fact he called Chambers a good player too, with much less hesitation so clearly he doesn’t have expectations of him so your point about him costing 50 mil is nullified… Read more »
0/10 for that Fulham keeper taking his boots off for no reason.
Totally understandable. His socks were crumpled and hurting his feet…
Yeah what a prick
Got exactly what he deserved with 7 minutes added and an equaliser.
Well at least they did add on 7 mins in which time we scored. Still a disgraceful piece of gamesmanship
Parker didnt even bother to warm up a back up keeper.
Forget the draw I’ll be gutted if Lacazette is out for a long period
Yes and no.
Provided Auba’s back up and running, it’s about time he gets an extended run at CF with these technical players in behind.
The first Villareal clash is in less than 2 weeks and Auba only just left the hospital. Surely must have lost some fitness. Fingers crossed he’s back in shape by then.
Have had malaria and it smashes your immune system. There is NO way on earth that Auba will be 100% within 10 days… he may be close but it’s that final 5% (nd then that extra 1or 2% on top, that match-winners somehow find) that turns games…
A dive? Stupid mistake from Gabriel, that’s all it was. Gave the opponent enough to fall to the ground, and gave the ref enough to award Fulham a penalty
The ref didn’t award it and niether would VAR.
The ref did award it, albeit slowly, and VAR confirmed it. Gabriel has cost us a few of these this season. A tale of big toes but also big chances missed and a lack of guile or long range shooting.
The assistant flagged it, not the ref.
The lad goes down under the pressure of his own arkwardness…….Gabi nicks it and is gone. Ref: free out. Less than a minute later, another lad sees his chance to be a star, and throws himself over Gabriel’s foot (which, I grant you, should not be there). Ref: penalty. 2 things………why is var not used to identify Anthony Martial type divers? And do I remember Pawson fucking us over in another game not too long ago?🧐 Christ, they were desperate to disallow Eddie’s goal at the end. I will say that Rob makes it legitimate for them ,(the cheating officials),… Read more »
This game shows just how much work that midfield needs. Elneny and Ceballos just not good enough. Really missing Odegaard. Martinelli grew into the game but got into the right positions. Not looking forward to the Villarreal game with all our injuries.
[sigh] Arteta-ball simply does not create enough chances. 3 vs 2 shots in the first half. Against a club headed down.
Rinse and repeat. Same story every week.
Eighteen shots to three, and half a dozen of them only just off target. Plenty of chances but not clinical.
I’m sure I’ll get down voted, but I think we’ve slowly forgotten what top flight football looks like over the past 7-8 years.
If you saw PSG-Bayern first match… we are miles and miles and miles off.
Fulham are a fully crap side, and we needed 7 minutes of stoppage time and f’ing flick-on header from our backup keeper to pull out a draw.
Arsenal in the “Super League”… hahaha
Then PSG lost to Lille creating nothing and Bayern were held to 1-1 by Union. PSG might not even win the league this year. The first leg was a fantastic match, but both of those clubs have had plenty of poor performances this season. Covid has hurt the consistency of every club.
I’m pissed he started laca and xhaka. Try new things. Nikolaj moller is a unit to have as a plan b. The formation change by Arteta made us worse. We had two players wide on each side on a low block with players standing parallel to their back line so if not for Saka trying to create something the last 40 minutes would be sideways passing.
Hope Martinelli isn’t made to abandon his directness.
Completely agree with Blogs as to VAR. it’s like a committee of idiots got together and said “how can we take the best part of our game and ruin it for the fans?” Well done idiots.
Personally, the worst part of football is coming away from a game thinking we’ve been robbed… Think VAR did it’s job today, just because all of the decisions were tight makes no difference. Go back and see how many blogs used to bemoan shite officiating and injustices..
A real mid table performance from the Arsenal…
This group of players are simply not good enough. Elneny, Bellerin can’t pass for shit..
Ceballos runs around like a headless chicken..
Center of midfield was shocking today..
If you take Saka and ESR out, im pretty sure we would really struggle to create anything at all..
Piss poor again. We dont take enough shots at goal, you dont need to be in the pen box to shot
Fucking awful. Mikel is done. I don’t enjoy watching the games, and even if we’re allowed to return, I will be selling my ST more often than I will be using it.
No idea why you got down votes!!
Whatever you think of the European Super League, they can’t possibly be worse at VAR than the PL, plus Mike Reilly won’t be the head of refs.
Bellerin and El Neny was way below the required level today. Bellerin does not have the confidence or gust to try and overlap or take on players one on one, and El Neny does not distribute the ball fast enough. The tempo is slowed every time the ball has to go through these two. I don’t see them as Arsenal players in the future, which is a shame because they are both likeable characters who has given nothing but their best for the club. It’s just that I don’t think their best is good enough.
VAR is here to stay. Complaining about Wont change a thing. It’s a tiresome listening to moaning about it. Football like all else in life evolves, the sooner we accept the better. There will be days that we benefit from it and some days not. Give it a rest.
I agree that, unfortunately, it’s here to stay but its inconsistencies, timing, and processes need further refinement. If lines can be drawn with precision at receipt , they must also be drawn at the point the ball is passed simultaneously. The laws must also become more clearcut.
At present we have merely introduced more controversy than we had before. Personally, I’d scrap it.
VAR may be here to stay but is Arsenal?
By that logic, we should all still be driving around in Ford Model T’s? New technology must be continually tested, reviewed, honestly evaluated and then refined, always with a clear vision of why it was developed in the first place. VAR is meant to review and rectify ‘clear and obvious’ on-field errors by refs. Just because it has the capacity (albeit requiring 5-6 mins of frozen screen time!) to reduce seconds to milliseconds and inches to micro-millimetres, that doesn’t mean we need to actually use it for that?! Keep the standard to a simple naked-eye measure – like whether there’s… Read more »
0/10 for the bonus rating. How was VAR at any fault today?
VAR wasn’t at fault – I think the complaint is that you can’t even celebrate a goal anymore because you don’t know if it’s gonna be checked by VAR.
Re Ceballos, you wrote: “because you know he’s better than the sloppiness he provides too often.”
Sorry, how do we “know” that? How about this: he’s an end of bench player for a mid-table club at the age of 24 years and 7 months. We would be fools to pay for a permanent move. So, of course I expect we will.
Maybe cos we’ve seen him play better?
If management think at the age of 25 he still has room to improve then I’d back a move for him as long as we’re not getting ripped off, and we’re still prioritising Odegard.
Agree that right now he’s not at the level we need, but he looked a lot more comfortable in the last two games with Partey in the lone pivot.
Have you seen him play better on a sustained basis? No. The very sentence I quoted makes no sense. Age 25 is not young. Across all professional sports, age 25 is right around peak performance on average. Players who improve after age 25 are almost unheard of, aka extreme, extreme outliers. Players who sustain that peak are also outliers, though less extreme. I wouldn’t take Ceballos on board unless we are getting paid for it. Far better off picking a couple of 18-20 year olds out of France, for example. Look it up. Oodles of empirical research done on this… Read more »
Var has to go. It is killing bball and it is even worse for soccer. Eddie gets a six. Only imagine what it would have been if he hadn’t scored. all he does is score. ( a an old nfl reference to chris carter. All he does is catch Td passes).
the super league is globalization working its way to soccer. You get what you vote for.
Their penalty was, firstly, a dive.
Secondly it was just as much offside as Sakas toe was.
VAR have the possibility to work well, but it just doesnt! The decisions are just as bad with it, as it was before. Rubbish
Super league is shit.
VAR is shit.
Poo is shit.
…. & of course Tottenham are shit.
And what do think of shit ?
What do we think of shit, rather
@arseblog, thank you on Martinelli. I thought I was the only one that saw and wished he took on the full back more than he did cos he’s capable of that. Watching him now feels like he’s not playing with the freedom that would match the ability he has. Looks like he’s trying to follow a specific and strict instructions on what to and not to do. I try to compare it with the freedom with which Willian plays in the same role and even changes positions. Must be something from the coach. (Me thinking, fans and media forced Arteta… Read more »
I dislike VAR more than spurs!
Impossible
This team, I guess, is the definition of average. And arsenal in a super league? We’d be the only super league team with 3 right backs and only one left back which forces our center midfielder to play left back.
This was more frustrating than the liverpool match. Lazy. Against a team qe should walk all over.
In either case, a European super league is the worst. Plus, they already have it. It’s called the champions league.
Maybe football is over.
Ps. Kroenke can piss off. The trump loving bastard.
bellerin adds nothing to our game, nothing. bar two games against chelsea he hasn’t done anything for us in years. great praise for pepe around here, he’s still looking clueless to me and yet another tap in miss from him today. struggling to remember an nketiah goal which wasn’t a tap in. i’d rather have a youngster fill in when we need rotation instead of elneny. despite all the crying for us to sign ceballos im not sure i’ll miss him. xhaka’s a massive football player, always committed for the team and it shows he cares. it’s obvious he didn’t… Read more »
Ceballos is struggling, he tries things outside his ability level. His corners and that attempt to dribble past two players in the box and then got turned over when martinelli was to his left and in space.
It is almost as if he feels he believes he is neymar but he takes in the responsibility of such a player when he is really a support player to the real cleaners in the team.
Faking being the best player didn’t make You the best player
I don’t think there is any harm in putting in Azeez for the final few games of the season at the expense of Ceballos.
Here’s a thought – and once again, rugby union has a lesson for football… The micrometer measurements used by VAR may well (although it still, ultimately, comes down to a human eye making the call) be a more scientifically correct way of determining whether a player is offside, albeit by millimeters. However football is a game of speed, instinct, mercurial moments and – at it’s best – full flowing harmony… and GOALS! It is not about slide-rules and cross-hairs (nor split ones!). It is not about endless replays of ‘line-ometers’ bisecting a frozen image ad nauseum. And when it is… Read more »
You give most people an inch, they take a mile. You’re on or off. We now have the technology to make this endless drivelling twaddle stop. end of. Viva VAR
You miss my point entirely mate – the technology is brilliant. We just need to control it’s use, rather than allowing the use to control us, down a slippery slope of endless hair-splitting. By all means use the VAR lines to accurately establish players’ positions – but once that’s done, it’s up to the HUMANS to decide what the positional measure of the offside law is. VAR is just a graph on a screen – we can, and should, decide on a simpler, more immediately obvious, and therefore, quicker standard of interpretation of that graph… for the sake of the… Read more »
In hindsight given our mediocre league position it would have been better to give the likes of AMN & Willock a better try in the centre of midfield through the course of the season. Whether they are or are not up to it for Arsenal, it is great to see both thriving out on loan. It would have been far more beneficial than giving middling plodders like Ceballos who isn’t even our player, and Elneny a decent run. We’ve got Partey, and I suppose Xhaka as capable central midfielders. Whether we give AMN & Willock a run next season or… Read more »
After all that’s been discussed ad nauseum about our shortcomings, what more is there to say about needing a goal in the 97th minute to draw at home to Fulham? I know! Let’s join a league where EVERY TEAM will be better than us. Cool.
Say hello to the European Super League’s whipping boys. As bad as this season has been (mid table mediocrity, out of all the domestic cups and all our eggs once again in the Europa League basket) enjoy it while you can, as we will be getting BATTERED every week in the ESL if/when it arrives.
As far as ‘big scalps’ go, Fulham would probably have considered Arsenal at best, a comb-over.
Enjoy reading Arseblog when I dip in and out of it late in the day. Disappointed with way football is going. Business first, money second and somewhere down the list is fans. Rarely watch MOTD and no longer have Sky Sports. European Super League? i hope the managers and players who have a glittering career ahead of them, walk away. it might make greedy owners rethink. Then again money talks!
Arsenal didn’t even have to win promotion when they first entered the old first division in 1919. The league was expanded from 20 to 22 clubs and, as was the norm for expansions, the previous season’s relegated teams (Chelsea and Tottenham in 14/15 due to the break for WW1) were to be readmitted, and the 2nd division top two promoted (Derby and Preston) Arsenal however had only finished 5th in the second division in 14/15 but were promoted at the expense of Tottenham due to the same sort of dodgy backroom deal that Sir Henry Norris* succeeded in pulling off… Read more »