Arsenal’s title ambitions suffered another blow as Mikel Arteta’s men dropped two points on the road at Fulham. The Gunners fell behind early to Raul Jiminez’s fine finish but battled back in the second half through William Saliba’s second goal of the week.
The visitors thought they’d stolen the win in the closing stages but VAR ruled out Saka’s header after substitute Gabriel Martinelli, who provided the cross for the England international, was adjudged to be offside. Having had the chance to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to four points, it feels much bigger at six with the Reds having a game in hand.
Unable to call on Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhaes for the second game in succession, and with Oleksandr Zinchenko missing out due to a new fitness issue, Arteta reverted to the backline that finished Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Manchester United. Thomas Partey was asked to play at right-back, Jurrien Timber switched to the left and Jakub Kiwior continued to partner William Saliba. Jorginho came into midfield alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, while Leandro Trossard replaced Gabriel Martinelli to provide guile off the left wing.
Despite the defensive reshuffle, Arsenal started brightly, dominating possession with crisp passing that forced Fulham to retreat deep into their half. The travelling fans sensed an early breakthrough when William Saliba rose to meet a corner, but he couldn’t steer his header on target.
Then, against the run of play, Fulham ruthlessly exploited Arsenal’s defensive frailty on the counter. Following a patient 20-pass build-up, the hosts struck with clinical precision. Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith Rowe combined neatly in midfield before Kenny Tete threaded a perfectly weighted pass behind Jakub Kiwior. Raul Jimenez latched onto it, surged into the box, and lashed a fierce diagonal shot past David Raya to fire Fulham into the lead. It was the fifth time in 11 games that Arsenal had conceded first – a worrying trend. (GOAL 1-0)
The Gunners continued to dominate possession after the restart but struggled to carve out clear chances. Bukayo Saka forced Bernd Leno into action with a corner punched off the line, while Declan Rice dragged a first-time effort wide after being played through by Leandro Trossard.
Fulham defended resolutely in a compact 5-4-1 shape, denying Arsenal space through the middle and frustrating Odegaard. It was left to Saka and Trossard to inject some urgency into the attack but both found it tough going. The Belgian whipped a cross to the back post that Saka couldn’t capitalise on but he did force a smart save from Leno later on after twisting Calvin Bassey inside out. For the most part, though, Anthony Robinson had the England international’s number.
With Rice narrowly missing a lunging attempt at Saka’s inviting cross late in the half, Arsenal went into the break trailing and in need of a sharper attacking edge.
After an early scare – Raya claiming a dangerous ball fizzed in by Robinson – the Gunners stepped up a gear. A Rice free-kick panicked the back-peddling Fulham defence and raised the pulses of the travelling fans before Bassey conceded a corner from another dangerous Saka cross. This time Arteta’s men capitalised.
Rice curled to the back post, Havertz, darting into space, headed across to Saliba who tapped home from close range. VAR took a long look at the Frenchman’s position and eventually deemed him onside courtesy of Robinson’s left leg. “Set piece again, olé, olé, olé,” sang the Gooners behind Leno’s goal who love a Nicolas Jover special. (GOAL 1-1)
Arsenal’s tails were up and Saka’s dancing feet created space for another ball that just evaded Rice’s head. A brilliant driving run by Timber ended with Trossard firing low at Leno. It was the Belgian’s last contribution as he was replaced by Martinelli. In response, Fuham replaced Smith Rowe – who had an underwhelming game – and Traore with Andreas Pereira and Harry Wilson.
A clever pass from Odegaard found Havertz with room to shoot but his cute attempt to beat Leno at his near post ended with the ball dribbling wide. The game drifted for five minutes before Partey squandered a golden opportunity to put the Gunners ahead. Completely free in the six-yard box, the Ghanaian headed another Saka corner wide.
At the other end, Raya made an unorthodox save with his right leg to keep out Pereira’s effort. It was Fulham’s first shot since their goal. With 17 minutes remaining, Arteta switched things up further, sending on Merino for Jorginho and Jesus for Havertz. After Rice tested Leno, Nwaneri was added to the mix at the expense of captain Odegaard.
The game was a frantic end-to-end affair, pockmarked by scrappy play and niggly fouls. Both sides sensed they could win it but the pressure was very much on Arsenal to do so. Martinelli’s frustration boiled over, and he was shown a yellow for dissent. The Brazilian had a smile on his face a few minutes later when he whipped in a brilliant cross that Saka headed home but after another long VAR review, he was deemed offside. The frown returned to Martinelli’s face. There were inches in it.
On the touchline, Arteta tried to gee up his players for five minutes of stoppage time. Yet another set piece afforded Rice the chance to pick out a man in blue but the wind seemed to catch his kick and the ball sailed out much to the relief of the home fans.
Sorry to be so damning. But Martinelli has a low footballing IQ.
He fouls players in their own corner, he ghosts past defenders and then floats it to the goalkeeper or over everyone’s head. And he can’t hold the most basic of offside lines.
So, so talented. One of the very best at 1v1 football. But not much of a footballing brain at all.
Frustrating. So frustrating.
We played well, though Fulham scored from their only chance.
Many more games to come, we will win games easier than this one
We need to be irresistible to win the league and overcome what is once again a (probable) 9 point gap. Irresistible. And for extended periods. Is that what you saw? Do you see it coming?
The chances of a league win look remote right now. You have to beat this level of team. Couple that with the red cards no other team is suffering and we look out of luck.
he is past it and will not get any better
why does he need to hold the line when he is going to step back anyway?
Bit harsh – he needs a run of games just like anyone. Would help him to be more focused and cool when he gets his chances to your point.
He is at least doing the right things and I do feel he can get back to his best. Jesus on the other hand… I have no idea what the point of him is
The right things…
He is a winger for fucks sake.
What, he doesnt know how to take a quick step back or side on, whilst the ball is being released and then go for your sprint..
Its so basic…
You learn that in under12’s….or you just never learn..
For me that is criminal
Painful stuff, three of our best defenders out and they still only had 2 shots all match at home.
Stats like these don’t make a lot of sense when you look at the state of the game. This would have been impressive if they were chasing the game and had equalised in the last minute. But once they went ahead, they weren’t going to attack a lot and only wanted to hit us on the break if the chance arose and we did well to snuff it. Even then, they didn’t commit a lot of bodies to the attacking cause and were happy to have all them behind the ball.
He was onside by about 2 meters and the Fulham defence stepped up right before the ball was played. It’s not the worst error in the world. Christ.
Just bullshit
2 metres my arse
Its schoolboy shit
i think he was very naive today but probably due to frustration more than anything else. i was honestly so happy for him because today’s pass was the first quality thing he’s done in months, so unfortunate he was offside. strongly disagree with your 1v1 claim though — he hasn’t dribbled past his mark in months
Id put him on from the start. Defensively better than Tross, , in a game like that, where the opp just want to break.
I really dislike losing TPS midfield presence. Playing him at RB seems to effect our whole perf.
If we are without so many defenders……..is it not time for KT to go left, Timber goes right, and TP is in mid.
In fairness to Arteta, the only time this season we had a full first team on the pitch from the beginning was the S Lisbon game.
And yet he starts all big games, has been a key player for us for 6 years or so, is an international player for a major powerful country. Support. Encourage. Love. Back him. He’s one of us.
you can support a player and also recognize his current performances are below expectations
This!!
Saying he has low footballing IQ or only pointing out the flaws in his performances doesn’t constitute supporting him in any way
This
I feel like he’s peaked already. He’s not a starter for a title challenging team, he’s back up quality
He has regressed this season but is that entirely his fault? I don’t think so.
Who’s fault?
Great point too, he’s played so much better whenever Calafiori has been on the pitch. Timber is wonderful defensively wherever you put him but neither he nor Kiwi are suited at all to taking advantage of Martinelli’s strengths.
This is his current level, squad player. We need more production from the LW position.
This is bollocks, our left wingers have scored 6 goals and right has scored 5, 1 from the penalty spot.
Are people blind?
Player development rarely occurs in a linear fashion. He’s having what’s turning out to be a pretty long slump but that he peaked at 21 two seasons ago is extremely unlikely unless there’s a chronic health issue, which I don’t believe there is.
I’d say his problem is that he is no longer much good t one on one. His positives are hard working to help the left back and holds the width as instructed.
Was literally yelling at the tv for him to get back onside, he was just strolling. Very disappointing. Dynamic LW incoming in Jan or the summer.
We need to try and also score from open play!!!
Too many times the ball went across the Fulham box.
no we are the new stoke, just more expensive.
I HATE this Part-ey at RB experiment. We practically have a RHS of Timber, Øde, and Saka that is incredibly effective… Why not give Tierney a chance and keep that RHS in tact?! These Tomi and Zinchenko injuries are staring to grate, too.
The Calafiori, Gabriel and Ben injuries are worse.
At least for the last 20 minutes?
We definitely need to be better at scoring from open play. Thought Havertz was poor today. He needs to find his shooting boots quick.
Or be ready to run on to a tap in. The chance Rice missed, that’s the position that Havertz should be covering. There were a few times that Saka whipped the ball into the box but nobody was there.
And Partey needs extra training with crosses/heading. He missed an amazing chance against United and another today.
It was poor to allow Fulham grab a goal with their first and probably only chance! But these injuries are really hurting us.
Also think Sterling should be given more game time. It’s just not working with Martinelli at the moment. Sterling was great a few weeks ago when he properly played on the left for us for the first time. Give him a run and let’s see. Just try something different.
The Sterling signing now looks to be absolutely bizarre. Surely a game like this is what we signed him for?
I wish someone would pay me £100k a week to do absolutely nothing.
What a waste of money!
Yeah very strange signing…seems like it was only done because of MA’s history with the player rather than his current form…really odd signing
Not that odd when you consider Jesus and Zinchenko also signed because of Arteta’s relationships with them…but as we know city rejects don’t win championships.
He should have got on.
I think there is more to it… Our left side is miles away from the right and it makes us so, so predictable.
Rice is a really great player but creativity will not be his strength anytime soon. (and it is not his fault).
Wheather it is Tossard, Martinelli or Sterling – they will always be much more isolated than Saka on the other side.
We are a damn good team, but if I think about the most remarkable teams recently – complateness seems to be a / the key attribute or distinctness for final successs.
I think this team would look better with Xhaka rather than Rice. Probably an unpopular one but the truth
Rice is our #6 of the future and will be a legend for us. But not right now stuck at 8….he’s not what we need there.
Sterling was great a few weeks ago?! lol. I politely disagree. What a ridiculous signing.
I think “great” is a stretch but Martinelli isn’t offering much atm and Trossard isn’t great when he starts so it’s worth a try.
Hugely disappointing. It must be mentality, because we always fall away when there is an opportunity and then come back strong when nothing is at stake.
one foot away from winning the game and getting the job done is just unlucky
Very true. Im more frustrated as I can see Fulham bending over backwards for pool next week.
The hard work of the last 3 seasons would have crowned any other team as champs and this season the PL is up for grabs and parasites like Chelsea have a chance.
Why would Fulham bend over backwards for Liverpool? If the scousers win its because would have deserved it, we need to stop looking at other teams , and realise that the forward back ups are nowhere near good enough.
they will be without their first choice cb and nelson at least.
The point is that a team of champions wouldn’t be needing that bit of luck against a team like Fulham. I want to win the league badly, but it just doesn’t look realistic.
When we won the league, those teams weren’t relying on the margins. Too many chances have been wasted this season, even allowing for bizarre red cards and the side is imbalanced with a strong bias to the right.
Much more than the 91 or so goals that we scored last year, the highest in the club’s history, our defence was our strength. With the defence lacking this season, we are struggling and going to struggle.
We really need to get our defensive solidity back. Much more than looking for a striker.
This is a huge two points dropped! But the league is still some way to go. A lot still to happen.
The back 4 is constantly changing due to injuries/suspensions, when all fit no problem there, our attack on the other hand is piss poor with the exception of Saka, I wouldn’t trust any of the rest to score
Has Saka played that well?
He has 4 open play goals from 42 shots, 3 assists from corners and 4 “assists” for passing to a player who later scores from long range. His open play contribution is hardly setting the world alight.
We have an issue creating chances from open play as a team and Saka is as guilty as any other player
I’ve seen some bad takes on these comment pages but you take the fucking biscuit mate. I’m almost impressed.
Not at all, it’s an honest and accurate take in a sea of poor ones.
I like Saka but my god is he put on a pedastal by our fanbase.
Given how much of the our play goes through him I really think his output, especially from open play deserves greater scrutiny
forget the league
You forget!!!
and go preach in your own corner… we heard mosquito noises like that of your voice in 89 too..
Weak as piss– your mindset.
Disappointing performance Possession stats are meaningless with no end product. Robinson dealt with Saka the whole game. Was so happy when Saka scored only for VAR to spoil the party. Need to be perfect for the rest of the season to have a chance.
I think Saka got the better of Robinson almost throughout. Got by him on several occasions and provided service that deserved finishes. It’s a consistent weakness with the current team to not have anyone attacking excellent balls across the face of goal (or at least not attacking them effectively). I’m not in the “we need a new striker” camp, mainly because of the dearth of available quality options, but this is definitely a weakness.
100
Given they weren’t finished maybe they weren’t excellent balls but poor passes to no one?
Top quality players pick out a teammate
Gabriel Jesus is so so poor
Honestly no different to playing with 10 men when he’s on the pitch.
Really frustrating this one. Absolutely no excuse for being offside there – Martinelli needs to get an absolute rocket from Arteta.
We need some backup firepower in January as well – Jesus looks like he’s utterly lost confidence and lacks conviction in everything he’s doing
He was well onside but their defence did well to step out just before the ball was played. You have to credit the opponents sometimes.
Wrong wrong wrong
Just not good enough to win the league or Champions league, a chance in the two the domestic cups but you can’t win the big prizes with absolutely zero threat up front.
We’ve been saying that for 2 seasons now. The Summer transfer window was a disaster that is biting us hard right now.
Given that we have many fullbacks injured, it is concerning that Arteta has not started started bedding in Tierney. Tierney at left back is more balanced than having Partey at right back.
Small margins cost us titles, Martinelli couldn’t keep onside.
I think if Big Gabby is on the field we would have seen that. The Timber move felt like necessary cover for Kivior. Really dont think that Mikel is “experimenting” with Partey at RB – just being forced into finding solutions.
Could have gone to a back 3 instead of Partey at RB…
Thats kindof how it works doesn’t it – with TP cycling into the midfield from the right?
Tierney can’t be played because he needs to be sold. If he plays he’ll probably injure himself again.
that’s the only reasonable explanation that I can phantom, but then why even put him on the bench.
To show he is not injured.
Can’t fault the effort, especially in the second half. But simply not good enough again in front of goal, especially open play. Also, and maybe I’m just in my feelings here, but I can’t see it working out for Kiwior. Giving me serious Rob Holding vibes.
Let’s be honest, our squad depth is a big problem.
Yup. I actually think we have good defensive depth but have been unlucky with a lot of injuries, but we’re really short in attack. Far too reliant on Saka and Odegaard in open play.
An Arsenal result for an Arsenal season. We don’t score many like the Fulham goal. I wonder if a clinical striker would make any difference?
Taking Havertz off felt like a mistake. I wanted to give Jesus time but I’m convinced he’s done and I don’t want him on again. I thought Nwaneri should have joined Odegaard not replaced him and, as always in a game like that, we had our chances.
If Liverpool win the league this season, an inquiry is appropriate.
Absolutely. If anyone but City win the league then definite questions need to be asked. Especially if we win nothing at all
Putting Jesus on these days is like going down to 10 men. Can’t believe he stuttered on that ball that would have given him a free shot.
Martinelli, argh look along the line.
Special mention to Fulham and especially Jimenez they are magnificent at falling over.
Just not up to it today and we look to be to trained in on set pieces today rather than free play goals.
Was literally saying earlier for a guy that’s probably 6ft 4, Jiminez falls over from being brushed on the arm
I still can’t believe we do not have a proper striker in the squad.
I can. Sticking to the spending limits imposed means we can’t couldn’t afford one in the last window with breaking the rules . If we bought one we could afford as a stop gap then we wouldn’t have the money for the people we actually want and need.
We’re playing in a time where things things matter now.
*these
Loan one? trade one?
Exactly. It’s amazing how our fans will complain about Man City cheating, and then also complain that we don’t cheat. We can’t spend £100m on a striker and stay within the rules. So we don’t have a striker. It’s really not that hard to understand.
We’ve spent $636 million in 5 years, I’m sure some of that could of gone to a half decent striker. Idk what you’re on about with this excuse.
Exactly, utter nonsense, Arteta has been at the club for 5 years and not bought 1. Centre forward.
We were happy to spend the money on Sesko and for that matter Williams. So the fact that we didn’t get them shows that we had no back up plan should either player refuse us but money was put aside. That is poor
I can: Arteta is incompetent.
incompetent literally means he can’t compete. he’s back to back runner up in the premier league. he exceeds the word “competent”. how about you actually point out the flaws he might have in his management instead of just reducing things to him being shit?
I agree with you, incompetent is absurd – however, I fully understand why people might have questions about our forward player recruitment during his tenure.
Do we have a problem with our recruitment or could better rotation of our squad to the answer?
I personally think Arteta’s biggest weakness has been his selection policy, lack of rotation and I think that’s played members of our squad into poor form or at least not kept them as fresh as he should have.
You can’t tell me that both Gabriel Jesus and Sterling have become completely useless, I think his selection policy is at least part of the issue
Trying to win a Premier League title without a single striker in your squad IS incompetent.
We don’t have an adequate goal scorer that’s for sure but I’m not 100% convinced it’s a personnel problem but one with our style of play. We don’t have enough creativity beyond Odegaard.
Your a dick
Let’s all love a manager who wins nothing. Then we can keep him under contact for ever.
BTW: it’s “you’re a dick”. At least I can spell.
we rely completely on our right side of attack and center midfield to score goals, as we never get the ball to the left and we don’t have a proper striker. havertz links well with his teammates at times and is able to finish some plays, but is not a killer nor a reliable option for when you’re supposedly trying to win the premier league. what i don’t understand is why this comment gets upvoted today but a month ago havertz was like jesus second coming on this comment section. seems like whenever we win everyone gets a free pass… Read more »
The one problem with this is our left wingers have scored more league goals than our right winger which is the elephant in the room.
Not super relevant to the result but I actually can’t stand the sight of Gabriel Jesus at this point. Offers absolutely nothing.
Long way to go, but not signing a proper attacking threat in the summer is proving to be the big miss 90% of fans predicted.
Hope we can do something in January, though it’ll probably be too late by then.
Brutal selection decisions and no strikers 🤬
That Gabriel Jesus cameo was laughable, to win the big prizes you need contributions from squad players. No premier league goals for nearly a year but its okay, ” We just need to show him some love”
This is a decent point but there’s got to be a kid somewhere in the academies that brings more than Jesus. Might as well play with ten men when he’s on.
This game perfectly demonstrated just why we won’t win the league this season – and maybe never under Arteta. When we needed a bit of magic up front to conjure up a goal we only had Havertz. Then Jesus came on to do nothing. Ah, but we had a goal disallowed at the end? Yes, because our useless left winger couldn’t stay onside. And Partey missed a sitter. Arteta is a nearly man and we’ll never win the title under him. We need a ruthless manager who will do what needs to be done to take this team from 90%… Read more »
He is ruthless…! Perhaps with the wrong players though…
After further review… VAR wins again!
Lines drawn on a video screen prove that VAR is undefeated, by millimeters!
What are you even talking about. He was offside, it’s the correct decision.
I never said it wasn’t.
We need more goal threat..it always feels like when we concede early we struggle big time to come back. Doesn’t matter how good your defense is, you’re going to have games where you need to come back from a deficit in order to win trophies like the PL title.
I think that we have six players (seven with Saka) that can play LB and still we have a player that’s better at RB at LB and a player that’s a lot better in midfield at RB. I feels we are a bit rubbish at the medial.tests when it comes to LB:s.
When LB is fkd as usual, I don’t understand why we can’t shift to a back 3 and have MO/Rice/TP/Merino and either Havertz or jorghino as midfield 5. We’ve done it before and it works ok.
Martinelli sends one decent cross and sits offside. It’s criminal
i think fulham played very, very well. they were also lucky to score with their only chance, but they have the quality to do so. we were very good as well but were a little bit unlucky. did the right movements but didn’t execute them properly. a big part of it was down to the way fulham were pressing and defending. it’s frustrating to drop points and usually against fulham you expect a better result. but i truly think they got something going on, they’re a really really strong side right now that competed at an extremely high level tonight.… Read more »
When I look at the lineup and I see Trosard in one corner and Partey in another I get annoyed in actual fact Trosard starting annoys me.
The point of the offside rule is to prevent teams from gaining an unfair advantage. What advantage did Martinelli gain by a few inches? He still had to beat his man, whip in a cross, and Saka still had to score. It’s a silly application of the rule. He was forty yards from goal and running the other way.
It is the rule though, and one that Martinelli understands – don’t blame the law when the player doesn’t do what he’s supposed to.
He was offside but if it takes minutes to decide the officiating approach is. wrong. Officiating is not about perfection it is about following a set of rules and maintaining a safe environment. The game is about entertainment. Each should balance against the other
We don’t know that the fitness levels of the players on bench are, but given the circumstances it seems very odd to play TP5 at RB, and keep KT on the bench. even if we have to play TP5, better have Kieran on the left and save timber’s legs, cause if we break him then what.
then to sub both TP and jorghino, and don’t let me start on Zink and GJ, what a mess !!!
At some Arteta needs to look in the mirror and make a commitment to stick with either Martinelli or Leo. Week in week out it’s one or the other based on the previous game’s performance. It’s gotten to a point where neither is playing to their full potential. They are so very different players so it shouldn’t be hard to pick the player that best fits with his vision. Just stop the monkeying around and give one of them the confidence to play a run of games without the threat of the bench every week. I personally hope it’s Leo… Read more »
Trossard blows hot and cold far too often when given a start every week. He’s a super sub and that’s it. Martinelli’s struggles are a direct consequence of the players behind him chopping and changing most weeks. The left side of our team is a shit show basically and I hope we don’t ruin Martinelli because of it.
I am sorry but you can not expect to win the title with performances like this. To be honest we do not DESERVE to win the title with performance like this. It was a limp performance at best. We did not show the hunger of champions and unless we improve significantly and Liverpool have a horrible meltdown the title is not happening this year (again). What is most frustrating is to see that Chelsea is beating us to it. From a laughing stock they have transformed really well under Maresca and it sucks…