Fulham boss Silva: Lack of fire from my side in derby defeat to Arsenal

Fulham manager Marco Silva talked about a lack of “fire” to his team as they produced a meek performance in yesterday’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal.

The match was over as a contest by half-time with the Premier League leaders scoring all of their goals in a brutally one-sided opening period.

The Whites, who also conceded three times at Brentford on Monday, could have been even further down with a Gabriel Martinelli goal also disallowed by VAR for offside.

Fulham made mistakes with their distribution from the back and also allowed Arsenal the time and space to pop the ball around. Gabriel and Martinelli both headed home as the west Londoners were dominated aerially inside their own area.

Martin Odegaard rifled a third before the break.

“It was a tough game for us against a top side,” Silva told Sky Sports. “We were flat and didn’t show any fire in the game. There was no intensity.

“Lots of things went against us and I don’t need to talk about their quality, because it was more about ourselves.

“We can’t give away those chances in the first half.

“The second half was slightly different but it was already too late. We showed too much respect and were flat in the first half.”