The lowdown on Arsenal 2 Fulham 1 – Whites unable to shake off the FA Cup hangover
Fulham have never won an away clash with Arsenal – either at Highbury or at the Emirates – and never looked like achieving that feat this time either. Defeat makes it three losses in four and there is no improvement on the eighth place in the Premier League they occupied at start of play. Europe is still on the agenda, with eight to play in a congested table, but this was a pretty tame return to league action.
THE LINE-UPS
Arsenal: Raya, Timber (Trossard 77), Saliba, Gabriel (Kiwior 16), Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Nwaneri (Saka 66), Merino, Martinelli. Subs not used: Neto, Tierney, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Sterling, Gower
Fulham: Leno, Diop (Sessegnon 77), Andersen, Cuenca, Castagne, Lukic (Pereira 67), Berge, Robinson, Traore (Willian 67), Smith Rowe (Iwobi 67), Jimenez (Muniz 77). Subs not used: Benda, Bassey, Reed, Cairney
SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME
Fulham looked well organised and compact early on – with former Arsenal man Bernd Leno only troubled once in the opening half from an Ethan Nwaneri volley he saved, before the Gunners broke through on 37 minutes.
Jurrien Timber’s ball inside Antonee Robinson picked out Nwaneri for a pull back to Mikel Merino and the midfielder’s shot deflected off Spanish compatriot Jorge Cuenca to find the bottom corner.
Bukayo Saka came off the bench and promptly celebrated the end of his long lay-off from injury by nodding in the second from close range on 73 minutes. The goal was finely worked with a Mikel Merino cross being flicked on by Gabriel Martinelli for the returning Saka to apply the finishing touch.
There was some consolation in the 94th minute when Rodrigo Muniz bundled in a cross from Ryan Sessegnon which deflected off William Saliba, but there was to be no repeat of last season’s late equaliser from Palhinha in a 2-2 draw.
TACTICAL APPROACH
Marco Silva understandably rang the changes after Saturday’s anti-climactic FA Cup exit to Palace. In came Adama Traore – who Fulham arguably could have done with from the start at the weekend – Emile Smith Rowe against his old club, Issa Diop and Cuenca, with Raul Jimenez starting ahead of Muniz this time.
The Whites looked fine defensively for the most part, the main threat coming down Timothy Castagne’s flank via Gabriel Martinelli, but they offered little going forward. The first half xG was 0.03 – and that was probably being generous.
They did wake up after the break, with Jimenez testing David Raya and Traore’s burst past Jakub Kiwior created a half chance, but a triple substitution midway through the second half underlined the need to shake things up. Willian, Andreas Pereira and Alex Iwobi all came on. But within minutes it was 2-0 and the game looked done.
Muniz missed a sitter from an Iwobi cross 10 minutes from time – heading wide with the goal at his mercy. That needed to go in. The fact he kept going and scored at the death was a credit to him, but the damage was done.
STAR MAN
Bernd Leno. Probably the best of a pretty underwhelming bunch, to be honest, but his return to the old stomping ground wasn’t too bad. Made a couple of good blocks and could not be faulted for either goal. There were a couple of decent runs from Iwobi and Sessegnon when they came on but no really outstanding contributions.
MOAN OF THE MATCH
Fans hoping for a real pick-me-up after the FA Cup loss will have been disappointed by the risk-averse strategy which handed the initiative to Arsenal from the outset. Sitting deep is fine, but not much of a foundation if there are few signs of breaking out at pace to trouble the opposition.
It felt like they did not really lay a glove on the Gunners. The only joy from fans travelling from west London came in the form of taunts to the hosts about the likelihood of finishing second in the league once again.
TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB
Will we ever win at Arsenal? Fulham have come close several times, but this one was not, despite the narrow final scoreline. It was a free hit in some ways and felt like a missed opportunity. With Liverpool next up – Sunday at the Cottage – the worry is that all the fine progress made this season might go to waste. Fulham badly need a good result to re-energise the run-in. One thing unlikely to be an item of conversation is the footnote that it was the first time Fulham have lost with Cuenca in the side.
WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY
“Not the best performance from us, definitely. The first half was not at the level it should be. On the ball, not aggressive enough. Even if we started well trying to keep them calm, we needed to press higher. We missed that next step to try to create dangerous moments.
“We conceded two very soft goals. We should have done better to defend the left hand side for the first goal and the second was same story the way we conceded. Second half we were much more aggressive in our attack and created four chances to score.
“The FA Cup defeat cannot be an excuse – that we were flat because of Saturday. I will not go in this direction because we have the obligation to keep fighting and play at our best level.”
Of Rodrigo Muniz’s miss, Marco Silva said: “For a striker you cannot be so down when something happens and I saw him fighting until the end to get something. He’s very mature and understands what is his job in our team and what it means to be a striker at this level.”
Pictured top: Antonee Robinson tries to keep Bukayo Saka at bay (Picture: ALAMY)
