Result: Arsenal 1 – 1 Fulham
Competition: Premier League
Date: 18 April 2021
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Xhaka, Elneny, Ceballos, Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Subs: Leno, Cedric, Chambers, Mari, Partey, Willian, Pepe, Nelson, Nketiah
Arsenal laboured to a draw against Fulham in a sluggish performance at home. Despite starting well, they lost momentum midway through the first half. They should have gone ahead at the end of the half with a Ceballos headed goal but VAR ruled it for offside.
Gabriel then gave away a penalty in the second half which was converted by Fulham’s Maja. The Gunners toiled in their attempts to find an equaliser and it was substitute Nketiah who pounced on a loose ball in the 7th minute of injury time to secure a point for Arsenal.
Pre-Game
Rotation was the name of the game against Fulham as Arteta called on the bench in a bid to rest a few first team players. Loanee Mat Ryan made a rare start in goal while Bellerin, Gabriel, Elneny and Martinelli returned to the starting line up.
Xhaka continued at left back in Tierney’s absence while Lacazette, Smith Rowe and Saka looked to continue their rich vein of form up front.
First Half
Arsenal started the game the same way they ended their last – by attacking the opposition. It only took the Gunners 30 seconds to make a direct attempt on goal. Gabriel pinged a long pass from deep for Martinelli to cushion down for Lacazette. Martinelli beat the offside trap to receive the return ball from the Frenchman only to miss when attempting to lob Areola in goal.
Fulham couldn’t cope with the fast exchanges made by Arsenal around their penalty box with Saka, Smith Rowe and Lacazette bamboozling the away side while the livewire Martinelli moved with intent, taking another shot on goal a few minutes later which was well saved by Areola.
Arsenal’s defending was also pretty positive, penning the Fulham defenders back as they tried to build the play from the back. Often, it was sterile possession deep in the Fulham box as the away team failed to find passing options, expertly cut out by Arsenal’s forwards.
Despite holding Fulham at an arm’s length, it was pretty passive stuff from Arsenal and eventually, Fulham found their way out with a speculative shot by Maja trickling just wide after deflecting off Holding that caught Ryan on his heels.
This passive approach meant that a malaise crept in slowly to the Arsenal team. Passes went astray, movement was minimal and we couldn’t find a way past the Fulham defence.
When it seemed that the first half was going to end with little action on both ends, Arsenal went ahead through a rare Ceballos headed goal. A punt into the Fulham penalty box was well-worked into a clever chip by Bellerin and it was his compatriot who rose high to knock the ball into an empty net. However, VAR annoyingly intervened to rule the goal offside as Lacazette was a mere toe behind the last defender in the build-up.
As silly as the VAR decision was, Arsenal should have had very little complaints about ending the first half with no goals. They started out strong but slowly lost their pace and momentum as the match wore on.
Second Half
It seemed that the Gunners were made aware of their malaise during the break and came flying out immediately, again producing a shot that was close to being a goal by Lacazette.
The increased tempo by Arsenal saw greater urgency to press Fulham higher up. Tackles came flying hard with Xhaka being on the end of a couple of tough tackles. But it was the failed challenge from Gabriel on an onrushing Lemina in the penalty box that changed the complexion of the game.
The Fulham player had his toe stepped on for the foul and Maja scored from the penalty spot to move the Cottagers ahead. 0-1 Fulham
Arteta raised the tempo by taking off Elneny and Bellerin for Pepe and Partey. But the Gunners fortunes went from bad to worse when the manager had to make his final substitution just minutes later when Lacazette pulled up with an injury – Nketiah took his place on the pitch.
The change of pace was almost immediate. Smith Rowe played in Martinelli who skipped past Areola but could only take the ball wide. His cross found Pepe at the far post whose header was instinctively saved by Areola off the line.
With 15 minutes left, it was all on Arsenal to hit back and find an equaliser.
Arsenal found it hard to break down a resolute Fulham team who were desperate to earn the three points in their battle against relegation with last minute clearances and a deep defensive block.
The home side’s persistence finally paid off in the final minute of injury time as substitute Nketiah stabbed home from a corner kick skirmish. 1-1 Arsenal
Arsenal didn’t deserve to lose this game but neither were they convincing enough to justify a win. With Arsenal’s hunt for a top 6 place looking even bleaker, Arsenal can’t afford more performances like these if they’re looing to book a European place for next season.
Yeah. Sun’s out. Fulham are pretty shit. Man, the Emirates is a nice pitch. Already created a few chances. This is going to be fun. Set vessel to cruise and we can walk four in against these guys. They’ve probably already given up. It’s not like this game means anything to them. I can’t actually believe that a team that sits where we sit in the league could even understand the concept of complacency. But two good wins and we think we only have to turn up to win. It’s a lesson we are taught 20 times a season and… Read more »
The scum and Everton drop points West Ham get done and we can’t beat Fulham. Not a lot has changed with this team.
I didn’t agree with Arteta’s decision to start Saka, instead of Pepe However, he was the only trying and able to make a difference.
Not taking the 3 points and to point fingers at referee and VAR against a relegation threatened team is to be Mourinho.
I wouldn’t point the finger at Arteta for Pepe. Pepe was the worst outfield player when he came on today, lackadaisical when challenged and too predictable as an inverted winger (all of his crosses were blocked). The only position in which Pepe has thrived so far is as a traditional left winger; unfortunately that overlaps with both Martinelli and Auba.
Starting with the Manager. He is not good enough. 9th after 32 games is no accident. He hasn’t been good enough and needs to go. His managerial style is terrible. I remember the Pogba interview where Mourinho was dictatorial and he would just forget you existed and ignore you if you weren’t on his good side. Arteta does that. Guendouzi being an example. Why didn’t Saliba play a single game. Its ridiculous. Even with these ‘cute’ appointments. Bringing in a total noob and hoping you will unlock some great potential in him. Sack Arteta and get in someone with proven… Read more »
So Douzi is Pogba in your opinion, you sound too cute to me 😀
You couldn’t wait to bring the pitchfork out could you? The last week must have been hell for you with 2 convincing results. The jury is out on Arteta but let’s wait for the season to end before we call for the manager’s head .
Agreed. Looked like the players had already conquered the world with that Slavia win.
Ffs why don’t they just put it in the back of the net..
Why isn’t Mikel consistently using the same center backs?Why not continue what is already working?
He asks for consistensy but how will you get that when you change half of the team between every match.
Mari isn’t the strongest in terms of build and cannot play 3 matches in a week. You speak as if players are machines.
Is Maguire a machine? It is the CB position. Not midfield or wingback.
Look at history of Mari and then come back.
If Villa and Leeds win their games in hand we could very well be on the bottom half of the table.
Bring the thumbs down Arteta apologists. He is underqualified, we play terrible under him and we should get rid of him as soon as possible.
This is the main problem I have with Arteta, the constant defence rotation. It’s only going to get worse as well if Saliba comes back into the team next season.
Let’s just hope we don’t keep hold of Luiz next season too
Complacency has been a problem from Wenger’s days. I think Arsenal squads just read about themselves a lot whenever they have a few good games.
Yeah, that really felt like a throwback of a performance. It’s as typically Arsenal as fast flowing football and technical brilliance.
Fulham have taken points from Everton, Leceister, West Ham, Liverpool, and shared points again with Liverpool and Tottenham. They’ve lost by one or two goals max against City, Chelsea, United and the rest of the big teams. They’re NOT Sheffield United! They may be in a relegation battle but they’re a respectable team to beat, similarly to Leeds United. To expect Arsenal to just show up and beat them 3-0 isn’t going to happen. 1-1 draw is a fair result but Arsenal should have beaten them with the amount of chances in the first half. Enough of the toxicity. Onwards… Read more »
Come off it, Fulham are the third worst team in the league.
Yeah but we are the second…
Both can be true – Fulham have taken points off of all the top teams… and they’re the third worst team in the league.
D’you know what, I see your point. I mean, it’s just eleven men on eleven men. Every game’s pretty much just a coin toss.
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.
what?
HenryKamp has some news and he wishes to deliver it on all arseblog articles. Quieten down to listen to this breaking news (which actually means very little).
Fulham’s failure to win any of their 29 away league matches against Arsenal is a record in England’s top four divisions for the most away fixtures versus a single opponent.
Yay. Let’s stick that one in the trophy cabinet.
Keeper sits down and takes boot off to waste time. How is this allowed ?
This is not an excuse for our inept performance but refs allow too much time wasting without any consequence.
To be fair there were 8 and a half minutes added time….
Tbf, it would look great next to the 8th place trophy.
Yes. It’s a shame we don’t have a record anywhere remotely near that against the top sides though, but there we are.
And just like that, our league season is done. We needed 3 points and turned up with the energy of a pre-season friendly. How long are we going to keep accepting this level of mediocrity? We haven’t been able to string together a run of results almost all season. Honestly so sick of it.
I’m going to stop calculating how many points the teams above us need to drop for us to get ahead, because then out of nowhere we inexplicably drop points to Fulham at home. You’re right, safe to say the league season is done
I admire the optimism of people down voting this comment.
How long are we going to keep accepting thislevel of mediocrity?? As long as supporters are not allowed into the ground I’m afraid
It’s funny how many fans’ perception of energy seems perfectly correlated with the scoreline.
If 3 more of our huge chances had gone in, would you think the same?
Well, those chances came to nothing, so you can stuff your imaginary points.
That point in the first half when Elneny laid it off backwards when ESR was making a run into a huge space really sums up the gulf in class between him and Partey
Everyone’s arms shot up when he did that like “what are you doing!”
we did not play good football today.
Yep, and I’m sure I heard everyone in the ground shout, “go forward!”
There was another time in the 2nd half he could have gave it early to Saka. I had to rewind it twice to make sure I just wasn’t picking on him
It’s more important for Arteta for the players to be senior, nice and plays safe. Hence, we kept Elneny back from loan at Besiktas and loaned out the young, hungry, not necessarily very safe/disciplined players- Guendouzi, Willock even AMN.
Elneny and Ceballos – that’s relegation level midfield.
You speak my mind. I don’t know why Arteta went with that midfield pairing in the first place. He should have gone with Partey and either Elneny or Ceballos.
I am sure Partey was not ready for full 90.
I honestly wouldn’t mind not seeing Ceballos ever again. He’s just not good for me. Whiney little Cazorla wannabe.
Throw my arms up and yell every time.
WTH? Goal is the other direction!
that’s who he is. a player going always for safer options. the decision to pass to the back was made (because of this tendency) before he received the ball. he probably never looked up and around to find other options, because he was in an advanced position, not his usually base-of-midfield spot where he has time to scan the field. and taking the ball, turning and looking up is not in his instinct.
so i think comparing him with partey is like the apple and orange situation.
Arteta Out Nothing else to be said. He is not good enough. You don’t accidentally end up 9th or 10th after 32 games 10th after 32 games. He has failed the club and needs to go. Don’t see any argument for him to continue. He is way out of his depth. Also enough with these ‘cute’ appointments, where the club will bring in a hidden gem and unleash his potential. Go for a tried and tested manager with a proven pedigree.
If Arteta gets the team or tactics wrong to start the match he doesn’t fix it. Terrible in game management. Also all his set pieces corners, free kicks, throw ins feel designed by a 3 year old
Objectively point out the flaws from the game. Speaking generics is of no use.
Why wouldn’t you say that Gabriel was lazy in his defending to give away a Pen? Why wouldn’t you say Pepe should have buried his point blank header? Why wouldn’t you say Martinelli should have scored in the first minute? Most of the time people here only speak generic things without any actual factual arguments and it ain’t constructive.
Unai was/is a proven manager that’s why PSG went for him.
Goonerrah: I don’t think today is good game to judge that. The whole point today was to try to give a rest to certain players, bringing them back in early would be counterproductive. I think we’ve seen Elneny/Ceballos doesn’t work. I agree with you about the set pieces though, so many of them just seem to go back. Andreas Georgson whole remit is that.
https://www.change.org/p/the-fa-prevent-craig-pawson-from-officiating-any-future-arsenal-games?redirect=false please sign…
The bit that annoyed me most was blowing up just before Fulhams goal when martinelli was through on goal having nicked it off Aina just because Aina decided to fall over
This will not change the culture of mediocrity we have here, and the red is not responsible for us beinf so useless and incoherent.
This was simply embarassing.
No it wasn’t embarrassing, it was a tired performance against a side fighting for their future.
The league season taken as a whole has been pretty damn embarrassing
No it is not embarrassing. Looks the close games we had whole season where we were there or thereabouts or had mind farts. This stems from all factors like setup, players, quality of opposition etc but I would be optimistic if some players can be upgraded. Considering impact of pandemic, I do not have high hopes next season as well except minutes accumulated by ESR, Saka, Martinelli, Tierney etc would be massive.
One step forward and one step back under this manager. Last minute equaliser against Fulham at home, do me a favour. Even if we limp into the Champions League by the back door (which we won’t) he should not keep his job beyond this season. Our league position is an absolute farce. Arteta out
As unpopular as a non-extreme opinion might be, there is no way we should be jumping to Arteta out after each loss. They happen (frequently) during rebuilding seasons, and we still have a chance to qualify for the Champions league this season.
If we fail that, then by all means, hashtag away. But if someone offered me, at the start of the season, to end up mid-table but qualify for CL, I’d have snatched their arm off. That’s still up for grabs, so I’m going to keep supporting.
Agree with you, the league is done already and Arteta has to take some blame for it. But for today if he wants to rest some players, he doesn’t have a choice.
If he rests Partey, our midfield is Fulham level or even lower. He didn’t rest Laca and now he is injured. Nketiah, Bellerin, Elneny, Ceballos, Xhaka at left back – that’s a dreadful team.
I just think we need to remember how we’ve felt the last 2 weeks with good wins over Sheffield Utd and the Europa.
Yes I was pissed off today too, but it was tough. We didn’t lose (just, admittedly) but we need to keep faith at least for a while longer rather than just chopping and changing like all the other twat clubs
Well said Bob. And @ Tommy Gunner – you reveal true nature as a supporter in your firm visualisation that ‘we won’t win’ Europa. Maybe we won’t… maybe we will – I know what any true supporter would and should be trying to affirm at every possible opportunity.
Your crystal ball is filled with bitterness mate. Roll on down the Lane, why don’t ya?
Having a bad day?
Guardiola makes 8 changes loses 2-0 to Chelsea.
Arteta his disciple makes 5 changes 1-1 at home to Fulham to whom arsenal haven’t lost in 29 outings. Forget Europa as Laca’s hamstrung and Bumketiah is nothing but a tap in star with no ability to hold up / link up play
On the other end you’ve Arsenal Women winning 7-0 as of 65th minute.
Fuck VAR and Scott Parker is too good to be a manager.
Must’ve missed that second Chelsea goal…
Bumketiah? Even Mourinho has something to teach you about class, mate.
Hahahaha
You are free to watch the women’s game only. It is a men’s game at the Arsenal to play such silly matches and frustrate the supporters.
Grow up!
Can we still get relegated? This team needs to spend some time in the championship
This is an Arsenals supporters website. You’re in the wrong place mate.
This blog is turning into Le Grove
This team is, overall, less than the sum of its parts in the league and for this reason I would like to see Arteta replaced ambitiously in the summer, even if we do go on to win the Europa League. If he stays, I like him enough to give him my support but deep in my gut I believe it will turn out to be another wasted year with minimal progress.
Happy for the 7 minutes we needed and love a last minute goal to rescue something though. Just wish it mattered to the table.
How can we not take 3 points playing fucking Fulham at home?!
This is so disrespectful to Fulham and football in general. FFS stop being so entitled, accept that we are away from it and don’t let emotions sway the objectivity, which is to improve every single day.
Well said. It’s frustrating but not the end of the world.
Maybe we just like to win all the time and that’s the spirit of a true sportsman.
Possibly the most misguided statement I’ve heard all season.
We just can’t get any momentum, can we.
Sorry but can’t really put down to anything but being unlucky: we had 18 attempts, 2 goals disallowed, xG of 2.93 and they won a penalty from a dive that one time they crossed the half line.
We did enough for a comfortable win, end of. Hope Laca is back asap.
5/18 Shots on Target that should sum up.
It we were neck and neck with the league leader I would agree with you – dominating and getting what we need regularly but that’s not the case. Shots on target was terrible so how many of those 18 attempts were any good?
Shots on target terrible? How about the Pepe header or the early chance that Martinelli took from Ceballos?
To list some of the solid shots off target: Martinelli’s early lob, Bellerin’s header, Saka’s curl just wide, Nketiah’s late chance – blocked
That’s kinda the point of xG…
2.93 xG
I guess the Gods must have forsaken us
Fucking agree 100%.
I absolutely despise this line drawing bullshit. It’s literally set up so that officials can pick where they want the result to be. I’m literally a statistician by training, and this infuriates me, especially how they believe that offside can be objective if defined in this way.
Bottom line: If the distance between offside or not is smaller than the width of the lineused, then you cannot state one way or the other due to human error.
Certainly not in a clear and obvious fashion, pretty much by definition!
A ‘clear and obvious error’ is not defined by the tip of Saka’s boot.
100% – why not simply amend the rule to require that there is a visible gap between the attacker’s and defender’s measured positions? If the lines are touching, no offside… if there’s turf visible between them, offside.
A simple, easy standard for anyone (with the possible exception of Mike Dean) to judge quickly and fairly. Works very effectively with the tackler ‘daylight’ rule at rucks in rugby.
Keep it simple, allow swift decision-making – after all, this is sport, not science!
It wasn’t a dive, I knew it was a penalty even before the referee blew his whistle.
I said it in a previous commitment, “I won’t be surprised if this Arsenal team drew Fulham”
And, I’m not.
https://arseblog.news/2021/04/arteta-this-team-can-perform-under-pressure/#comment-1329733
*comment
mate none of us are surprised
This team cannot surprise you only of it is playing against Barcelona or Bayern at CL 16
Sick of our inconsistency. No idea what MA Says to these players before games like this but it clearly isn’t working..out league position is embarrassing for a club like ours..
Disregard to Cup competitions and just look at the League. Arteta is under performing in relation to Emery. That’s a fact. Emery did better. He failed largely through an absence of communication and with it a perceived lack of direction. Arteta – to his credit – communicates what he wants and what he expects ; but he and his coaches do not get the players to deliver on it. V Real – let alone Utd or Roma will paste us if we play like we did today. No question about it. Still think – regardless of the EL – Arteta… Read more »
Can’t approve one more season as our play has not improved enough to justify it. EL or go.
The anger I felt when I looked at Nketiah trying to celebrate an equalizer in the 96th minute at home to Fulham… in a game we needed to win…
Yes.. same. I get it.. he’s excited for himself.. but there’s a mentality issue when you take a minute to celebrate instead of a minute to try to score the winner.
well don’t be too harsh. it was a frustrating performance but to tbh getting a goal in the dying seconds after so many attempts, while knowing that there’s not gonna be the time to snatch a winner, was a reason to be excited about.
to be clear – it was a reason good enough for some celebration after salvaging something you badly want or need. not the whole thing, but better than nothing. i’m sure the players won’t be happy with what they produced today and they shouldn’t. but it’d be just normal to be excited.
Goodness me that was a very underwhelming game. You don’t tend to win matches with only 3 shots on target. I guess a point is better than nothing. Looking at Mat Ryan. I feel he could have positoned himself for Maja’s penalty. His starting position was too right of centre and he drifted too far left by . He was alsokey in the final corner with his flick-on from his header. As lacklustre as Nketiah’s season has been. This is the 2nd time this season, he’s rescued points for Arsenal near the final whistle We’ll have to play better than… Read more »
Really, you’re going to pick on the backup goalkeeper?
Here’s what Mat Ryan should have done – nothing all game.
Our midfield is incredibly mediocre without Partey and our attack is hot and cold.
I don’t see the point of Lacazette when we’re playing with a 10.
The most frustrating part was that Pepe came on and immediately got on the end of a bigger chance than we’d had in the 70 minutes prior – and this isn’t the first time it’s happened.
If it sounds like I’m picking on Ryan, that wasn’t my intention. I just feel he could have positioned himself better for the penalty (which wasn’t his fault). If you’re a striker and you already see the goalkeeper moving one way before you’ve shot, it’s easy to just go the opposite way of the keeper. Who knows maybe it was a coaching instruction Of course, if Ryan hadn’t entered the Fulham box for the corner. We’d be looking at a 1-0 defeat. And yes I agree that our midfield had no control of the game. Most of our possession came… Read more »
We certainly weren’t perfect today – it’s fair to question the team selection, the errant passes, and the finishing. But to me, the biggest thing is we were the far better team throughout, and had everything go against us until literally the last minute. VAR, injuries, you name it – it just wasn’t our day.
So in that light, getting a point is alright. On most days, this performance against this opposition gets us 3.
Full credit to Mat Ryan for his header leading up to the equalizer. Their penalty was so soft. Hope Laca makes a quick recovery.
I hope not but that may have been Laca’s last game for the club.
That was terrible, I should have watched the women.
Celebrating a last minute equaliser to Fulham like that is pretty embarassing.
Let’s put those 97 mins down to fatigue from Thursday
Agreed. AFTV were all laughing and smiles at the end, says it all really.
At this poiny, AFTV isn’t for the entertainment of Arsenal fans. It’s for rival fans and the staff there know it judging by the comment sections there.
Like I get we shouldn’t have been in that situation in the 1st place.
However, Nketiah is a 21 year old who has been demoted to the U23s, has had only 22 mins of senior football since New Year’s Day and just scored a last minute equaliser. Why would he not celebrate what is essentially a small but personal victory?
I was watching both games, and yeah, the women put on a real display.
The usual tepid, dull, boring and toothless performance – just about scraping a draw against relegation threatened Fulham AT HOME.
For those short-sighted ones blaming VAR, it was unfortunately an off-side and the problem with Arsenal is far bigger and deeper than a VAR decision.
As per ever, Arsenal continue the ‘one step forward, one/two steps back’.
This is no way to run a Premier League football club, let alone our beloved Arsenal. People may like Arteta and he may be a ‘nice guy’ but at the end of the day, it’s the results that count, not personalities.
Actually, today we were unlucky regarding VAR and until Eddie popped up at the far post, we were being roundly screwed roughshod by techno numpties who think a fucking little toe constitutes Offside. As for our league results, don’t include me in your list of ‘short-sighted’ folk – I was angry last August about the manager and his squad selections and am now way beyond anger. I have now become, as the Floyd would say, ‘Comfortably Numb.’ Yeah, it was a poor game, but this is who we are and this is what we do. We still have the Europa… Read more »
Let’s hire Mourinho when he will get his eventual sack from Spurs!
No, let’s not. Let’s not even fucking joke about it, it’s that unpleasant a proposition.
We shouldn’t be surprised.
We shouldn’t blame the luck.
Luck is the first 261514 times that this happens.
This is simply our level.
This is where we excel.
I am happy that we gave time to young guns and they accumulate XP.
Glad that Nketiah increased his value and Willock also.
EL>EPL at this moment and time. EPL is just friendly matches for next season.
Down vote freely 😉
You’re absolutely right. Why so many of us ‘can’t believe what we’re seeing’ when we’ve seen it all season is beyond me. It’s just where we’re at, stop expecting us to suddenly go on a winning streak off the back of every good result. The squad has shown it’s as flawed as it is capable. I’m not happy about where we’re at either, but I do wonder about all of you who find yourselves so surprised and aghast every time this happens.
Scottie ‘Scott’ Parker is still a Tottenham twit.
That’s the only reason I was happy with only a draw. It pissed all over his Sunday roast.
I felt genuinely bad for him, seems like a good dude
Nice one Eddie, how’s your luck now, Parker…?!!
If today wasn’t conclusive proof, once and for all, that VAR is the biggest load of fucking of old bollocks ever in the history of mankind, I don’t know what is.
Well done The Arsenal for refusing to give up. We should have had all three points and but for a load of cameras operated by a load of cunts, we would have had three points.
Happy with the point though – solely because it’s upset Fulham and Parker so much. Fuck ‘em.
A shit Arsenal performance and a result that suited neither club.
It was no surprise that we didn’t turn up: after Thursday this game was “after the Lord Mayor’s Show”. Basically, the players didn’t give a shit. But this was massive for Fulham. Looks like they’re down.
Well done, Arteta, for playing Laca 3 times in 8 days: I hope he’s fit for the EL matches.
An underwhelming day.
Honestly, at what point is it reasonable to fire a manager doing worse than Emery? Whatever our opinions are about the playing staff, this team is better than 9th position and snatching a point against Fulham at home. The needs serious scrutiny
Arteta needs at least one full season without Sanllehi’s sabotage. He’ll come good. That FA Cup should be worth a second chance. If we manage to win EL, he’s a hero.
Another great game for the neutral and Kroenke Sports Entertainment. Remember folks it’s all about the greater sport “entertainment” franchise. There’s no I in team, Arsenal are just a small cog in the Kroenke sports “entertainment” family. Let’s not forget the bigger picture… FFS.
VAR was horrible that was NEVER a pen. Also everyone saying arsenal were horrible is a does not k now what they’re talking about. The game was not boring and Arsenal played well. bar a few players. Laca coming off and that fake penalty changed the game. Pepe is so sht he did nothing when he came on everything we did went though Saka on the right and then when he switched to the left they just kept lookiking for SAKA because every time we passed to Pepe he would lose possession. Why is Pepe so sht., You would think… Read more »
Gabriel stood on his toe. Once the ref gave it it was always going to be upheld. Soft but yeah a pen.
We’re such a fucking disgrace. Can’t believe we have the setup and such attitude that we are having our GK coming to their box in a 96th minute. We did not deserve the equaliser and it just papers over the cracks we so clearly have. I don’t think for a moment fulham are a team we should walk over, but there is no winning mentality in us, playing at home vs such a struggling team we should’ve had it in us to show them this is no place to look for points and they should look elsewhere. If mikel does… Read more »
Another self-sabotaging team selection. Ceballos and Elneny as the midfield axis. Really? Against any opposition. Does Elneny ever actually show for the ball?
Who would you play there tbh? Also factor in Partey is not ready to do.whole 90. Now answer.
Partey.
And when he breaks down because he’s been overplayed you’ll be crying that Arteta should’ve given him a rest and started Elneny. I agree Elneny was poor but there wasn’t really anyone else and the club have indicated they’ll be looking to add another good midfielder in the summer.
Partey the starter.
Cedric as LB and Xhaka as the CM alongside Ceballos/ Elneny if u want to rest Partey…I mean can’t have both of our best two CMs not playing midfield
Xhaka was literally playing as a left sided midfielder. If you want to label.him as LB, your call.
I’m okay wil elneny there, as we chose to keep him and let go of torr and guen who are better or at least have higher ceilings. But ceballos in CM never works. Dunno where he works at all tbh.
What a sad, sad day. A 97th minute equalizer and all I had was a shoulder shrug. A point is not enough, any childish, naïve, romantic hope of a late-season surge well and truly over as we can’t even see off Fulham at home. What a shambles. It seems no matter how upset I am after a game, loads of other people are 100x angrier no matter what, but I’ll give it a go anyway. Absolutely nothing seems to be going our way this year. Poor manager – I am not in the “Arteta out” camp, but team selection today… Read more »
Toe, foot, leg – it doesn’t matter, unfortunately, if it’s offside, it’s offside. But blaming VAR for our woes is like focusing on/blaming the toe when there’s something majorly wrong with the rest of the body.
I tried to be clear that I don’t blame our woes on VAR. We are a bit shite, hence the woes. But VAR is the thing that’s killing me. Saka’s foot may have correctly been found to be 2 inches offside, but it’s certainly not a clear and obvious error, and VAR is used differently game to game, it seems, so it’s all just random and absolutely infuriating.
Why was Laca used today? Madness. This game means nothing…
Stick Balogun and a bunch of other kids out there. Wouldn’t have been a much different result.
Ceballos – I have never seen a player so consistently sky the ball on a corner…
Good points. The corners were too close to the keeper several times, and not flat enough. I do want to praise Xhaka’s commitment. I thought he gave it everything, and was worried his leg was broken on that one challenge. And yes, it was puzzling that the hero of Prague was sent out again today. He played fine, but he’s not made of iron and he’s worn out. I hope that wasn’t a hamstring injury. (Who knows if Auba is coming back this season. Are we going to get two more years of pregame rumors about malaria relapses?) Yeah, why… Read more »
Our corners have been dreadful all season no matter who’s been taking them
And the amount of time they spend taking it, as if it’s a free kick on the edge of the box or penalty or something. Kills momentum
Don’t get me started on the one where we surround the keeper with 6 players and then float one in to the penalty spot, providing the opposition with a wonderful counterattack opportunity
Exactly. We know auba could need weeks to get back from malaria so laca is our best striker atm, whatever you think of him and we have EL to play for. We knew what eddie could do (not much) so why not give a start to balo? Could’ve been exciting at least. Now we need to sweat over laca with no reason.
Our lack of depth is so glaring… moment we rotate any players our performance becomes really poor . The positives: We played the kids. We got ESR, Saka and Martinelli. We created enough to win but were not clinical enough So happy for Eddie. He hasn’t had any game time recently. He’s been criticised a lot even though when he usually starts it’s with dross like Willian. But for the second time, he has scored a clutch goal. Agree to disagree about Eddie but on a human level feel happy for him and hope he can contribute with Laca looking… Read more »
Disappointing. Just when there was a chance to build a little, albeit belated, momentum in the PL and perhaps hope to still move up a place or two by season’s end, the “wrong” Arsenal turns up (by no means for the first time).
Barring a miracle, we are almost certainly going to end the season as a “mid-table” team. Who would have thought that a few minutes before the first match of the season kicked off? Funny old game, football.
Quite a few people would have predicted a mid-table finish for Arsenal before the first match, actually. I like our players, but few are top drawer at their position. The kids need polishing before they are the finished article. When all the starters are healthy, we’re pretty good, but no team avoids serious injuries/illnesses for long. If Laca is out for a while, the season could end very disappointingly.
Thought Emile Smith Rowe was class today.
Loved how he played.
Bellerin isn’t gelling with the team. I wish Cedric started.
Ceballos didn’t really seem to work as an inside left midfielder. Mind you, he could have scored if Martinelli left him the cut back from ESR.
Massive props to Ryan for the flick on in the final corner. He seemed absolutely pumped to make something happen.
Wish all our players shared that energy!
It wasn’t energy that was lacking. With some important players not starting, we were dominant and we got the worst of the official decisions. We could have done with a bit more poise and accuracy up front. This game could easily have ended with a two goal Arsenal win. But here we are. It’s the dumb mistakes and switching off in a half-dozen earlier games this season that doomed our European hopes. This was just not our day.
I like the manager, but I think the team selection was wrong and deprived the team of the momentum required for the rest of season. Changes to the midfield and defence were unnecessary and way too much for an opponent that was always going to rely on set pieces and counter attacks.
Too much rotation. Very reminiscent of the Emery 2-3 against Palace 2 years ago to the week.
But that’s what the squad (rather than the first choice eleven) is there for, surely. We just don’t have the quality and strength in depth needed to make the changes and get the points against pretty poor, albeit desperate, opposition like Fulham.
Until/unless that’s resolved we will either (a) run our best players into the ground or (b) we will have to accept diminished level of performances against so-called “weaker” opposition as almost the norm if said players are unavailable.
Horrendous outing. Arteta is no doubt a good guy, but clearly unable to get a consistent tune out of these players. Can you imagine any top manager tolerating a performance like that, in what was actually an important game at home against an objectively poor opponent who have never won on our ground? Simply inexcusable at this point, sorry. Irrespective of how the EL ends, we need a more capable and authoritative manager to lead us into next season.
These are good players though, as was evidenced the other night. When they can be bothered, they play well. We were unlucky with VAR today, but there should still have been enough in the tank to have secured the three points.
If they don’t perform, it’s on the manager.
We have lost more with Gabriel and Luiz at the back than with Pablo Mari. I think Gabriel is just as error prone now as Luiz.I also think Mari is underrated. The reason why we kept two clean shits in the last two games was because of Mari, he’s very calm and experienced. Part of the blame for today’s draw rests on Arteta, you don’t start two CMs who have not played together for some time now.
I’m not sure why the attitude is so negative on this one. Yes, we should beat Fulham. But on the whole, we didn’t play that poorly given missing and rested players. Comfortably dominated possession, shots, shots on goal, and corners. They had one decent attempt in open play. Against Prague we converted a lot. That didn’t quite happen today, but doesn’t feel like it was because we played really poorly. At least not compared to some other matches this year. The VAR was pretty ridiculous. And their pen was a gift. Had Martinelli gone down in the second half when… Read more »
Absolutely infuriating, so slow with our pace. Why did the manager make so many changes? Pepe must be fed up. Our inconsistency is a running joke now and we play in to that time and time again. Aaaarrrrrggggghhhh
Arteta on Pepe: ” … he has no excuses”. What? He scores two brilliant goals against Slavia Prague and is not even a starter versus Fulham.
It is quite telling that when we needed to make the most of a corner kick we had to turn to a 19 year old having had shit set pieces taken by more experienced players for the duration of the match.
Anyone who thinks that is remotely defensible is living in cloud cuckoo land. When we finally don’t win the EL, I hope we can start the season with a different manager. Starting Ceballos and Elneny…..salvaging a 1 – 1 at home to a team in 18th? I do love the loyalty we have but…..
Jeez mate, I thought I was the most miserable glass half empty merchant on here… 😂
Let’s at least see what happens in the Europa before we light the torches and sharpen the pitch forks.
hear hear – this was a match of miniscule margins… millimeters on the ‘offside’s and a few centimetres higher on Gab’s studs and it’s 3-0, not 1-1!!
Roy Keane on Sky Sports, so annoying… why do they even have him in the studio for an Arsenal game??
Guy is a nutcase, can’t believe they want him share his opinion on TV. Egomaniac, aggressive and doesn’t make sense most of the time.
Oh I dunno. I quite enjoy seeing him lose his shit over nothing. His blood pressure is just going explode one day, he’ll self combust and all there’ll be will be a comfy executive studio chair covered in claret with two blinking eyes – still moaning.
I remember after our 2014 FA Cup Semi Final penalty shoot out victory, he was moaning about our players celebrating, just because we were in the Cup Final and Manure weren’t.
Whatever Paddy used to wind him up with in the tunnel, still clearly rankles.
We have either consciously or not consciously thrown in the towel regarding Premier League. That was a performance that said “this is not important right now”.
We have better players on paper than Fulham by a margin, but threw in the white flag cos we apparently have more important matters to attend to.
I don’t know if it was a conscious decision but that’s the outcome. I guess it’s still possible to move up a place or two to a more respectable PL position (for a supposedly “top” club, anyway) but that’s looking very unlikely. All hopes are in the EL of course. Arteta and the team will either end the season as heroes or zeros – there is middle ground now.
*no middle ground now
All the sweeter because without Areola’s time wasting we wouldn’t have scored that equaliser.
I find it hard to be so down. Our position in the league is not a surprise and talking about how we were at home is much less relevant without fans. I felt we were unlucky to not be ahead and unlucky to conceded the penalty. We fought back to keep our momentum going (which is important as we look to continue our run in Europa). Let’s focus on getting a result vs everton. If it wasn’t for Lacazette looking like he did in his hamstring, it would be an overall okay result.
Good lord fellas, they were in Prague Thursday then an early ko on Sunday you can’t expect everything to be beautiful. Arteta made team changes because it had to be done. He has to play mo and Dani because he needs to keep them involved. Both are gone next year. this is what rebuilding looks like. i fault my fav martinelli for being to eager and holding the ball too long. I now understand what arteta meant about him learning. Mo is mo, but several times he needed to play faster but did his mo thing of safety first. but… Read more »
People whinge about VAR but these were the same people who whinged when ‘we was robbed’ by poor ref decisions. They also never whinge about VAR when VAR gives a decision in our favour.
Our midfield B team needs an overhaul. As Clive always says on Arsenal Vision, we need to lift the floor. Can’t wait to see the back of Ceballos and Elneny