Mikel Arteta couldn’t hide his frustration as Arsenal squandered the opportunity to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to four points.
The Gunners arrived at Craven Cottage in fine form having won four games on the bounce but they were left stunned when Fulham’s Raul Jimenez netted with the home side’s first shot at goal.
While Arsenal dominated the ball and made the better chances they struggled to work their way through Fulham’s compact defence and once again relied on their mastery of set pieces to get back on level terms. Rice’s corner was met by Havertz who found Saliba to tap home from close range on 52 minutes.
Both sides struggled to create much from open play, so when Bukayo Saka headed in Gabriel Martinelli’s cross in the 89th minute, it looked like Arsenal had snatched the points. However, a lengthy VAR review ruled the goal offside, compounding a frustrating afternoon for Arteta’s side.
Facing questions from BBC Sport, Arteta reflected: “We did all the things that we wanted to do in the game but unfortunately conceded one goal from one shot but the way the team played, the way they wanted to win, it was unbelievable.
“It’s very unfortunate, it’s millimetres you win or don’t win in this league and that’s the disappointing thing tonight.
“The way we started was unbelievable, we started to dominate the ball, the high press, every aspect of the game and suddenly you are one goal down, that’s the quality of this league any individual can do one action and you are one down.
“The team reacted immediately, we scored a goal, we wanted another one, we fight until the end but we didn’t get rewarded today.”
Having netted from a series of set pieces in the last three games, Arsenal again made their expertise in that area count although Arteta lamented his side not showing more prowess from open play.
“We should have scored from different ways because we had some big chances. In all the situations we had, the last pass, the last action wasn’t there to finalise the game, but this is the way, there’s not much more that you can do against an opposition like this here. At the end, you have to find a way to win the game.
“You can always do more, but we’ve done a lot, a lot against an opposition that a lot of teams suffer against. We did really well but one thing is deserving to win and the other fact is to win it.
“We had really good momentum, the team is playing really well, winning a lot of games, today we wanted to do it again. I mean, the performance was 100 per cent there, the winning probability will be so high but this is football and the margins are so small.”
Always going to be a nearly team under him. His ceiling is exactly that.
How can we have backed him more than any other manager in our history for every season ending in the same way?
Give him some more money to chuck at injury prone defenders, that’ll do it!
FFS are you 12?
Think we need better attacking options. Need upgrades at LW and another CF option
Mikel is not the problem you div.
His opinion is as valid as yours – why the need to insult him? To be honest – and this is based on fact Mikel Arteta has been backed hugely by the board and has achieved two runners up positions which is good but is it worth the £600 million plus investment? You would have to say no it is not. He has been here since 2019 he HAS to deliver this season or you would have to say that this is as far as he can take Arsenal. I would love to see him succeed but he needs to… Read more »
This season and the next season at best, if we are still without major trophy he should leave
A more measured response than some of the over the top nonsense on here However I think we have had a good ( nothing more and nothing less) start to the season. It would have been better if not for some unlucky sending offs and marginal decisions against us – the late disqualified goal today for example If Arteta left Barcelona would snap him up. He has transformed the club since he has taken over and we would struggle to replace him
Completely agree. We should be very carefull what we wish for. I for one agree, we would struggle to replace Arteta and I would have nightmares for another Emery project.
The same Emery that cost us the league last season as a huge FU? Hmm ok , thank god we only have ourselves to blame. Beat Villa at home and we would have been champions..but…. we couldnt even do that eh? Emery is no box office i give you that but he knows his football way better than Arteta and it shows in his C.V and history in the game. A bit of respect wouldnt harm. Especially when he has served us a huge slice of humble pie
I’ll go a step further, we wouldn’t find anyone with the same ambition or quality. He has flaws, who doesn’t, but on balance he’s our best manager, look at that winning percentage, and he’s was a rookie coach. I never want to go back to mid table or have a string of Unai’s cycling through our club. I believe Arteta will win us titles and cup silverware.
Going forward, we are not getting what is required by Martinelli. He is definitely not to blame for the points we dropped, but when he plays, you don’t get that end product that we need. A position that needs to be reviewed in January. I also hope we don’t put all our hopes on scoring from corners all the time. We need to mix it up and keep our opponent guessing.
Because Martinelli is not the standard required, he can’t give more than his limited decision making allow
Our left side attack has been barely functional. And it’s been over a year that way. Marti is out of form. Tross has lost that magic touch. To compound the problem, Kai is very limited as a player and his backup in Jesus needs Jesus to be a semblance of the player he once was. Unless Pool do this team a great favour he will end without EPL this season
His form is that of a squad player right now which is fine but we should never have gone into the season without a new dynamic LW. We play more of a system and when the system breaks down, you need individual talent to score a goal. Last window, we signed 4 keepers, which took time from the transfer team. Would like to see us prioritize recruiting attacking players that want to come to Arsenal.
Rewards for what? Our playmakers are the centebacks. Cant score on open play. Piss off you wanker. Insisted 2 months in the summer for Merino…for what????
Nah stop it Arteta. We didn’t deserve anymore than we got and this one is on you. You keep playing Partey at RB and take away a real threat going forward.
You use Jesus when it’s more then clear he doesn’t give a f##k.
I am really worried if we did everything we wanted as we played really slow and static lacking pace and creativity. We can’t give away the first 45 almost every fucking game and believe we will get anything. Get a grip Arteta.
I don’t understand his insistence after so many games that we didn’t get what we deserve. We got exactly what we deserve. Keeping the ball and huffing and puffing doesn’t win matches, if it did Wenger would not have gone more than 10 years without a trophy.
Cheese and bread, there are some toxic cxxts on here.
Because their outlook isn’t a rote default to blind optimism?! Calling people ‘cxxts’ because they disagree isn’t great btw.
Because they have a different perspective? If it’s negative that’s fine but I would like to see thinking behind it instead of emotional knee jerk responses. The bottom line is the pressure is on MA to achieve something this season otherwise we will become like the latter years of Arsene’s reign – just being content with top four…
Emotional knee jerk responses. The irony 😂😂
Have lost two titles in a row being unable to beat fulhams and west hams and southamptons. This season Liverpool has a new coach (in transition) and M.City looking fragile. Take your toxic irrelevance elsewhere then since you dont care or feel the importance of it! Maybe youre in it for the ‘experience and drama’ like the kardashians…
Go and reboot your play station 😂
Go find another person to call a ‘toxic cxxt’ you absolute hypocrite.
Rewarded for making the wrong call in the summer transfer window, not to sign an elite and hungry forward. Instead we went desperate for more height and strength, in areas maybe we didn’t need. I hope Calafiori isn’t going down the same route as Tomi, because the amount of time he’s been injured is worrying. Again, I question if we really needed him, because Arteta seemed reluctant to let Kiwior go.
It’s the left side of the field doing the damage and teams stack up the defenders against Saka.
Martinelli’s form isn’t what it used to be, Calafiori is the new Tomiyasu (brilliant, but rarely available) and Merino is a mystery to me. Why was he the main event in the summer, but rarely contributes now?
The biggest call that Arteta has made in his managerial career at Arsenal was to sign Kai Havertz and then give him a very lucrative contract. It was a stupid idea and he is now paying the price for it. Havertz was never the midfielder that Arteta hoped he would be so he decided to play him up front. But Havertz isn’t a striker either. But we desperately need a quality striker to compete this team. And now Arteta can’t justify to JK why we should spend big to get one. But Arsenal won’t get over the line with Havertz… Read more »
Spot on fats.
Frustrating match but it really wasn’t a bad performance. Not exceptional, but most of the time it would be a winning one.
Just 2 points dropped. Bad performance, good performance, average performance, not exceptional performance is something I couldn’t care less.
Agree Shivam, we gave it a go against an in form side at home where we had a most of the ball, conditions didn’t help v a defensive set up, but we had control of the game to have won this, small margins but had Martinelli stayed a whisker onside the narrative would of been a different one, ok, Miki’s subs didn’t pay off but the reality is seldom when sides making changes late on in the games rarely do they make a difference, lets face it we are a top striker short of a PL winning side.
Bloodyhell, anyone would’ve thought we just got beat by a shit team! We put 5 past sporting and west ham away, we can’t do it every away game ffs. Grow up, take it on the chin or fuck off and support someone else you numpties, bloody keyboard football managers!!
No Arteta. Today was pedestrian. And has been quite a few times this season. Bye bye PL-trophy..
Absolutely ridiculous the overly negative comments on here. We are doing well in the league and looking good for automatic qualification in the Champions League Our last two away games we’ve scored 5 goals. Arteta is doing a very good job. The amount of vitriol aimed at the manager and the team is shocking Call yourself supporters?
Think some people want more substantial rewards given that Arteta is approaching five years in the job and five years sans trophy… and, for the life of me, I do not understand why this line of thinking is practically taboo among certain quarters. This is a massive club and Arteta has been largely backed financially. Are we going to mine the same lines about unrealistic expectations if we’re in the same position next year? People are quite reasonably looking at Liverpool’s resurgence and the fact that, for all the undeniable progress made, Arsenal still don’t quite look fully equipped to… Read more »
We are competing ffs. When we stop then get out the pitch forks
Is it okay to say that at some point you need to do more than just compete? Maybe I’m mistaking Arsenal for a club that has no such expectations…
Competing means you have a chance of winning. It December. Reel your neck in.
Will do. Get those gums checked!
We were competing with Wenger too and i fact at a higher level. Consistent top4 with teenagers and consistenlty in last 8 and plenty last 4 champions league. But some of you did not like that did you? Wanted more eh…. and drove him out..this blog jumped on the bandwagon too. Jeez even Amy did. So the great man was pushed out (never fin ished lower than 5th and that was for 1 point against klopps liverpool) and it took 5-6eankers to do hos kob and were still trying to figure it out only to spend more.and be back where… Read more »
And I hate this toxic positivity. Criticism is deserved when you drop points when chasing title and when you already have dropped more than a few. Fulham are a good team, but we already have got beat by Bournemouth, etc. People can criticise!
Yep and Liverpool got beat by forest.
And Liverpool are 7 points ahead of us.
People can and should criticize and use data and cogent arguments as to how we could improve. Saying the manager should leave after we haven’t won the title after 5 years of Arteta being in charge, is not that, it’s the emotional response from people who just want something and are upset they didn’t get it. The manager has many opportunities for improvement, he will tell you the same thing but the direction of travel to me is clear.
Saying the manager needs more ambition is laughable.
Arsenal needs a clinical finisher upfront. More often than not Saka will win his 1 v 1’s, and Martinelli might out-run his marker, just as well as Trossard usually outsmarts his opponent, but they are all getting the usual frustration of not finding a target man. Havertz is not able to anticipate or out muscle his marker to the crosses that come from the 3 aforementioned wingers. Our other option Gabriel Jesus is usually out of sync cos he prefers to be outside the box and he doesn’t want to be bothered with the task of finishing moves. Nothing will… Read more »
I would open the Kroenke’s vault to get Isak, the exact profile we need.
Nonsense
Apart from Tice who took a shot?
Apart from set pieces what threat were we?
Why do we play short passes in close spaces. Look at Pool and Chelsea for examples of how to open up defences
Partey is not a fb and stopped any threat on the right.
Why does Jesus get on before Nwaneri.
This is simply poor management.
We didn’t deserve to win and will not win the league without fundamental changes
We are kings certainly.. at being a nearly team.
You did get rewarded. You got huge rewards for yet again playing Partey at right back.
We didn’t get rewarded today” – Arteta reacts to Arsenal’s draw at Fulham – no because you try to be more clever than you are and didn’t strengthen the attack – Havertz at CF doesn’t work
Our attack was really blunt. The communication between forwards was disjointed despite good ball progression. Too many blind punts into the box with no one making the effort to attack them. Even the famous sync between Ødegaard and Saka was curiously amiss. Why that was i don’t know but i guess TP5 at RB disrupts our natural interchange in the final third. This was always a game that we were going to face a deep block and i it find curious that we couldn’t start KT or MLS at LB, free JT for RB and TP5 to his natural position.… Read more »
thats exactly how i see it! and speed, more speed!