A deflected shot from Martin Odegaard and a goalmouth scramble prodded home by Gabriel gives Arsenal a deserved win as they come from behind against a resolute Fulham side.
The last time these two sides met the country was still under strict COVID-19 restrictions. Eddie Nketiah’s 90th minute strike drew Arteta’s side level against today’s visitors who had gone ahead through a penalty converted by Josh Maja.
Arsenal came into this game looking to extend their winning streak in the Premier League whilst Marco Silva was hoping his side would bounce back after a disappointing loss to Crawley Town midweek.
Arsenal started the game the stronger of the two sides. A chance for Saka draws a last ditch tackle from Adam Ream. Arsenal’s build up play was a class above at times in the first half, however they struggled to make the chances count. Their biggest chance of the half falling to Granit Xhaka, a sublime ball across the box from midfield maestro Odegaard found Jesus open towards the left side of the box. The in form striker unselfishly laid off for the Swiss international who skewed his shot wide of the goal.
Fulham were often extremely wasteful in possession and never really managed to carve out a decent chance on goal. Ramsdale having an extremely quiet first half.
The men from Craven Cottage had the first chance of the second half, a cross into the box headed over by Reid when he really should have done better. Which is about as good as it got for Fulham in the opening stages of the second half as the Gunners regained control of the game.
Arsenal’s build up play shone through again but as a couple of chances past them by, the first goal of the game came completely against the run of play. A ball across the box to Arsenal defender Gabriel was stolen from him by Alexander Mitrovic, the Serbian putting the ball beyond Ramsdale to put the visitors ahead.
Mikel Arteta’s men responded exactly how he would have wanted, increasing the pressure on the Fulham side. All of Arsenal’s build up and pressure paid off, Martin Odegaard’s deflected shot wrong footed former Arsenal keeper Bend Leno leaving him with no chance of making the save.
Fulham looked to respond just as Arsenal did to their goal, Mitrovic forcing Ramsdale into a good save. Reid looked to punch in the rebound but was blocked heroically by Ben White.
As the minutes started to tick down towards full time, several missed chances for Arsenal would have had the home fans thinking that this was going to be two points dropped. The Gunners had other ideas however, in the 85th minute a mistake from Leno would hand the home side the lead. A corner from Martinelli was missed by Leno, the resulting goalmouth scramble fell to defender Gabriel who poked home to send the Emirates into raptures.
As the 90th minute ticked by, a great ball into the box found Fulham substitute Nathan Chalobah who thought he was about to save a point for his side. Ramsdale however, was equal to the shot and parried it away.
Despite a gutsy performance from Marco Silva’s men, the Gunners had too much quality across the pitch. Martin Odegaard’s performance in the midfield kept Fulham at arms length for long periods of the game, earning his side a well deserved win and extending their winning start to the season.
S.W. Sports Journalist 