Arsenal’s impressive start to the season continued with a 2-1 win over Fulham at the Emirates this afternoon.
It wasn’t plain sailing by any means, with Alexander Mitrovic putting the visitors ahead after a poor mistake from Gabriel, but Martin Odegaard leveled just a few minutes later.
The winner was scored by Gabriel, making up for his mistake, and it maintained our 100% start this new campaign.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Read the Arsenal 2-1 Fulham report and see the goals here
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
Minority report?
Odegaard 10!!!!
The person who downvoted, fuck off and go to your own teams comments
Don’t pity the fool T, it’s all good
Bonus points all around for the mettle in them! Love the fighting spirit.
X-X the score. Is that in Roman numerals?
So this is how the magic happens.
Arsenal X X Fulham? 20 goals is a lot! I guess I should have kept watching, those last few minutes must have been wild.
love to see ‘hard man’ mitrovic rolling on the floor after crumpling like a paper bag when xhaka stepped to close to his ankle- 10/10 acting performance
To be honest I’ve got a lot of respect for Mitrovic. It seemed at times like his reputation preceded him, because the referee seemed to think he was so strong he was impossible to foul, and let some pretty rough decisions go against him. But he played very well and was magnanimous in his post-match interview. Also nice to see Fulham with a bit of spice about them – I think it was Alan Smith on commentary said you don’t really think of this as much of a derby, and maybe we don’t want it to become too much of… Read more »
mitrovic is looking for any advantage he can gain, within the rules or outside of them- he was constantly looking to ‘make a back’ and foul our players every time the ball was in the air, or flopping like a hooked trout. he can stick this result up his hole and go back to the championship
That dude is a good striker. PITA to defend. And he has a habit of scoring regularly.
This.
Mo had a man on him all match. That says a lot about how Fulham viewed him as a threat
Would imagine they prepared for TP5 and just went with their planned tactic in spite of his absence. Mo was pretty poor today
A man probably meant for TP
I feel like blogs wasn’t fair on the Mo rating. For me had a better game than our forwards yet was given a 6. He was pressed but hardly misplaced a pass. Partey hasn’t been that involved in our attacks this season either. This is his first game of the season. Says a lot about him.
Let’s be real, and I’m not being funny here, but he was hiding. I might be harsh because it’s just not within his skillset to do what TP5 does, the £50m we paid to him literally gives us control of the midfield. What I saw was our centre backs doing his job for him by trying to find our wingers, he can’t do what the system needs. Tierney didn’t help either because he wasn’t 100% and can’t do the inverted role.
Totally agree, he had a clean performance, without setting the world alight but that role ion the team isn’t there to set the world alight. I think people are looking for a cause for a somewhat wobbly performance compared to our recent games but I would in no way point to Mo being the issue today. Yes, Partay attempts more forward passes and, let’s be honest, can be erratic with his passing sometimes but the job Mo had today was to add shape to our midfield and keep things ticking over, both of which he did in my book. Playing… Read more »
KT’s rating “Looked like a guy starting his first game of the season – no surprise he came off”
Elneny’s rating in a game where we bossed the ball and played the entire first half in their half. “Had a better second half than first, but he struggled to be as involved as a player in his position should be in the first.”
His job is to win/keep the ball then help us play in their half.
I thought MO was very tidy, winning possession and laying off quick simple passes. Good performance, none of the sloppiness with the ball that had me grinding my teeth against Boutmrnemouth at times
Yes I thought Mo had a good game.
Have to agree here. You can’t really ask a lot more from your second choice number 6. Doesn’t complain about game time, a positive presence in the dressing room, and always doing a job when called upon. Decent enough back up for Partey in my books.
You new around these parts, V? Blogs never, ever, ever gives Mo’Nenny more than a 6.
Just shows how much of a skill it is for Partey to make himself available for the center backs so regularly
I wouldn’t say they thought he was a threat, just a conduit for us getting the ball to the forwards.
I love this team and this manager. One more quality signing before the window closes would be magic.
…or two good signings – preferably prem. ready – and we are shoe in for 3rd/4th.
Looking back at last year, how many fans said Mikel was not up to the job on All or Nothing and here – be nice to hear their apologies.
Well done to KSE for not taking the corporate panic jump of a change even if there’s lots more to dislike about them as owners.
Arteta is good at preparation, coaching and motivation.
However, his in- game management needs work. He makes some weird substitutes at times – having no left back for a period until Saka switched sides.
It worked today, but we didn’t come from behind well last season, indicating he struggled to change the game.
A test will be against tactically astute managers like Conte, but for now, we are top of the league and not something to dwell too much on.
I don’t mean to be rude but this is way off. Last year he didn’t have players to sub in. He barely had a first team that played the roles he wanted. This year we have the first 11 to play and a few extra players that allow him to change tactics.
He took a huge risk today pulling off Tierney buy it paid off. Nketiah good as very dangerous after he came on.
Agreed, for me it was Tierney or Mo to come off, and I was leaning towards Tierney. Shocked to see it actually happen though. Brave ,attacking move
Arteta is still only 3 years in as an actual manager.
I like Arteta a lot. He’s a really good manager overall but for me he’s not great a using his bench. Even in some games last year like Everton, cruising with nothing to play for, does the same old subs rather than throw on some kids. Last game against Brentford no Viera to get some minutes for guys. Burns out the players and leaves less minutes for the backups. IMO one of the reasons our second string was so much worse. Mostly it’s because they didn’t have talent but partly because they had such little opportunity (a la Pepe or… Read more »
There is a lot to like about kse. they take risks.
Gabriel doesn’t seem assured. Passing is one way and so predictable. Had to be his left towards Saliba always.
Ramsdale is always of his line makes him helpless when defender makes an error.
Xhaka is ineffective in advanced positions since he can’t score. Saka is getting dwarfed now. Guess his hype is done, now he has to prove his worth. Elneny is really the champion of lateral and back passes. Painful to watch him with the ball
Back to Shite Hart Lane with you!
Yeah, we are really fucked.
😶
It’s really pretty remarkable that despite how shit our players are, we have somehow manged to win our first four games. Imagine if we had some quality.
if you aint an arsenal fan, why are you here? We must live rent free in your head.
If you are an arsenal fan, then like city who went down to CP and won, applaud the whole team for the character they showed for winning. I’ve waited more than a decade to be this excited for our team to play as we have so for so your words are painful.
Hahahahaha – fuggin love this guy
Gabriel has that tendency to dwell on the ball a little bit too long. Mitrovic would have watched film and capitalised. However great mental strength to bounce back to score the winner. COYG
Gabriel did the exact same error I. The first half, just got away with it. Needs to cut the dawdling on the ball out of his game. Still- don’t want to dig him out too much. He did pull it out the bag with a cheeky winner!
Honestly Gabriel was playing with fire and got burned. Love his swagger, but wish he didn’t taunt the red hot striker.
The coach said to him on AON, “with you it’s all about your first touch.” They’re right his first touch dragged him into trouble.
I love the way VAR checked handball for our goal but after watching 50 times the only person who handballs it is Leno.
Standard Leno corner concession that was. I like Bernd but that wasn’t his finest moment & thank god we were on the right side of it this time. Now for Emi to throw one into his own net on Wednesday
Reminded me of why he couldn’t keep no 1 spot with us… always just the little bit suspect in commanding his area, especially on the crosses.
ramsdale was just as good as odegaard. he didn’t have much to do, but the two or three saves he had to make were huge, first to keep us in the game and then to secure the win. we were very lucky today!
Seems a bit harsh on Mo. Thought he was very solid all game, more reliable than Partey has been, with very few mistakes and a settling presence. He got us out of some trouble spots and was a reassuring presence as we moved the ball up field.
i liked his first touch, but did you see him tracking back in that fulham counter? completely outpaced by his man, which left odegaard in a 2v1 situation. concerning!
I like Mo. Grew to love him from the behind the scenes of All or nothing. But the only way he is more reliable then Partey is he is never injured. I do agree he was solid today though. Like with Tierney i don’t think people understand how difficult it is just to play when you barely start or are returning from injury.
Players who are prepared to spend the season warming the bench, never moan, are great for the morale of their team-mates, then come in and do a solid if unspectacular job when needed, are essential for any team. Mo Elneny is a real team Player. You could replace him with someone with a better skill set, but who might turn out to be a right prima donna.
The thing about Mo is that you get EXACTLY what it says on the def midfielder tin. Solid, hardly ever gives away f/ks, reads play pretty well, and always… always gives yo 110% effort. He’s no anywhere near the creator that Thomas is, but – starting from the back – we now have Rambo (killer distribution), Ziiiiiiinch (under-rated as a playmaker imo), Ben (seemed to have most of his passing mojo back vs Fulham), Viera (watch this space), Granit and Ode. We ain’t short in that department lads! I’m very happy with a no nonsense, brick wall who never gets… Read more »
Saliba involved in the winner too, nic elittle block on Leno… Would love to see more pressures like that on the goalie when we have corners
Yeah a subtle little nudge just as they’re taking off is enough to throw a jumping keeper right off, or a hand interfering with their arm when they’re raising it to catch. I know there’s the narrative that keepers these days are overprotected, but those non-obvious ones often don’t get called
I don’t think he knows the keeper is there, Leno jumps into him more than the other way round. Definitely not a foul.
Yeah I’m not saying it was really. It just shows what happens when you whip the ball into the goal mouth so that a gk has to deal with it, but surround him with bodies preventing a clear path to do so GKs don’t have magic powers, if there’s a similar size attacker between the ball and himself he can’t just apparate through. Chances are he’ll either flap or call a defender to deal with it and just pray they win their duel. PL or Sunday League it’s just the same. And if the gk fails only sometimes a foul… Read more »
Luvvinit!! Teams have been doing it to us for yonks… about time we got some!
Good on the boys to dig in like that; not every game is clean and tidy and we have to win those if we want to push on.
I don’t condone violence. I do however condone a miskicked ball from Ramsdale hitting a bears face
Not sure about a miskick. My son is a goalkeeper and he said that was 100% deliberate.
Sorry. I meant “miskicked”
As we know and love our Ramboner, I tend to agree with your lad.
We would not have come back like that last season. Even at one down I felt that we would win it, such is my confidence in this group. Plenty of people are saying we’ve had an easy start and, whilst the fixtures have been relatively kind, we’ve handled everything put in front of us, showed character when needed and dominated games. We have a new attitude and a lot of players are stepping up at the same time.
Not a criticism by any means but I wouldn’t mind if Saka or Martinelli got a rest against Villa with Smith Rowe coming in and then have whoever seems to be in better form start against Man U.
Time to give Eddie a start.
For me more than anything this is a massive psychological victory for the whole club – fans and players. You could see Odegaard pumping up the crowd when it was 1-1, and that’s a great thing for a captain to do, but it’s ten times better when we end up winning the game because it means next time it’s 1-1 in the 80th minute and the crowd see Odegaard trying to get them going they’ll remember that last time he did it we ended up winning. So far we’ve heard roars of encouragement from the Emirates, and that’s a good… Read more »
Totally agree, felt it (understandably) got a little quiet at times when we were looking for an equalizer. Onwards and upwards.
As big a moment was the players immediately rallying around GabMag after his cock-up… a couple of seasons back Muststuffup’s hands would immediately have been thrown up in the air, followed by scolding from Luis and even Granit having a moan…
Diametrically opposite attitude in this current squad – and it’s no accident that the fans are feeding off that… Big Willy the other week, GabMag this week.
It’s a potent cocktail fellas!
Jesus avatar needs eyebrows and a furrowed brow.
Good win and all that…I think ESR in for Saka against Villa. Or maybe Nketiah. Saka is running a lot, but not finding the angles or the finishes like last year.
I kinda liked our shape when it looked like Saka playing left back for awhile. Confused Fullham and he seemed to get more joy than when he was being double marked on the right.
Agree. Thought we looked great with Eddie and Jesus on together and Saka moved over to the left.
We’re giving him the Pepe treatment. He’s finding himself in the exact same situations when we have the ball.
Saka needs a rest. Love him, but he’s looked a bit jaded for a while. Today, he gave up the ball that led to Ben’s yellow card and his pass put Big Gabby under pressure. He’s played a lot of football, we have a big squad, and there’s no dishonor in sitting out a game.
Arsenal has a very good, dare I say, commanding first eleven. The bench is better than last season, but not enough, I am afraid, to keep up the tempo. Elneny is no Partey; Zinchenko fits the team more than Tierney at the moment. Saliba has no replacement at his level. We need a minimum of three players to be able to keep going a whole season. An option for Saka; a better back-up for Partey than Elneny; another striker. All those aren’t coming now, I know, but if the first two are possible before Friday, it is a no brainer… Read more »
Yup 👍
VVD doesn’t have a direct replacement either. We’re looking good. Stepping up to title challengers this season was always a big ask. Enjoy our start.
Once the Europa League come around and injuries and suspensions start to come into effect we will be short again.
The contribution Benjamin White has made to this team since last season!
So damn focused in his defensive work. Every duel counts. He pulled off an incredible sliding block at 1-1. Giving up his position to Saliba and adapting to a new role with no complaints, same focus and warrior attitude every game. Deserved an 8.5 today
When he loses a duel, he is upset.
It’s du’el
50 million..Your Shit…Hes hilarious too.
He didn’t give up his position to Saliba; the manager gave it to Saliba because he is better than White at the moment.
Odi 10/10. Motm. Best game in an Arsenal shirt so far I thought.
Gabriel obviously made a horrible mistake but Saka was equally to blame with a ridiculous ball across the box under no pressure. WTF was he thinking?!
Thought Big Ben played well as did KT. Definitely missed TP in midfield. More than we missed Zinchenko.
Play Eddie and Jesus from the start next game?!!
Nice idea for a chant?
BIG BEN, BIG BEN, BIG BEN, BIG BEN to bell dongs
Or just: Biiiiig Ben, Big Ben…. Biiiiig Ben, Big Ben – repeated to the tune of the actual Westminster chimes (y’know – the deeee-dah, dee-dah… dah-deee, dee-dah).
Well…. makes sense to me, anyway.
Interesting that Mik didn’t try Ziiiiiiinch in midfield instead of Mo. I loves me some Mo’Nenny but it would have been an interesting tester for later in the season.
Great to see us win ugly but I’m really worried about our central midfield. I love Mo but not sure that he and Lokonga can be relied on for a full season with Europe added in. Last season we had periods without Partey fit and we paid for it. Would like to see another body in there before the window shuts.
Like the period we won against Chelsea, United, and Westham?
Alongside the countless defeats to ‘smaller’ teams. We’ve upgraded everywhere else so would like to see here be a focus. Wasn’t long ago before we were dying for a Xhaka upgrade and so I think another high quality CM is essential business.
Nkethia was amazing when he came on!
Credit due, he played great.
He’ll play worse (but score)
Harsh on Saka imo, thought he was very lively and obviously got the assist for the equaliser.
Was equally at fault for their goal though. And he missed a couple of sitters. Not his best game imo.
How?!
I’m not sure, I’m pretty baffled by that comment tbh. I’ve rewatched his pass and there’s nothing wrong with it, Gabriel just fumbled the ball under pressure.
That was a pass that never should have happened. Sideways across the box , when under no pressure, to Gabriel who then was immediately under pressure. It was an insanely bad decision from Saka to play that ball. Next time play it forward out of danger!
Sorry I totally disagree, the pass was fine and that’s how Arteta wants us to play anyway. If Gabriel deals with it as he should have, no one would even remember the pass. But look that’s the great thing about football, two people can look at the same thing and draw totally different conclusions. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this!
Being tripled marked on occasion can’t be easy even for someone with his ability
Zinchenko celebrations 10/10
A different kind of win but one that showed the cracks that’s still evident in the team which is not taking chances. We need to be more ruthless. But odegaard was unplayable today. Go on gunners!!
Nketiah was so good. He deserved a goal.
The way he pulled the defender, then turned him and ran into the space behind for his 2nd chance reminded me of Wrighty. But the finishing is the difference between “so good” and world class. The first touch was super smooth, now just bang it in with your left. But that’s something Eddie can train. His first touch with his right has improved massively already, so he knows what to work on. Love the lad!
That Ramsdale shot was 100% deliberate and I love him for that.
Thought White and Elneny deserve better. I mean, what is Mo’s job in that side if not to help us have the ball and territory and protect us on counters? He did everything we needed him to.
I know it’s not time for questions yet but how worried are you about the celebration police? They are already out in force and it’s only 4 games in. Apparently celebrating is bad if you’re not Gary Neville or Jamie carragher away at Brentford.
Fuck ’em I say.
I don’t feel like we won ugly tbh
If Fulham go down I’d take Mitrovic in a heart beat.
Good show of resilience that augers well for future competitive matches. That determination that reflects a stronger mentality. Long may it last.
Question, though… I’m blown away by Gabriel Jesus’s strength, but what the heck was he doing, trying to man mark Metrovic around Fulham’s 74th minute corner? I suspect the set piece coaches will be re-evaluating that defensive play.
Had a reality check today, but pleased with the way we responded. When Fulham applied late pressure, our defence looked vulnerable.
It’s at least 3 seasons since I had cause to write the following: I enjoyed watching Arsenal play from start to finish today. Some of our one touch football was a joy to behold but being true to type against a side who offered little by way of attacking ambition, chose to make us suffer for (their) art. There can’t be many better all round midfielders in England than Odegaard at the moment and kudos to Gabriel for not hiding after his catastrophuck for the Balkan Butterball’s pick pocket goal. We missed plenty chances but this is Arsenal. It’s what… Read more »
Good performance by the team.