Morning all
With Man City hitting the top spot of the table for the first time since possibly the last day of 2023/24 season the gauntlet had been well and truly thrown down by Pep Guardiola as in a way, he announced he isn’t going off anytime soon despite the rumours. Why would he with a cyborg at centre-forward?
Are City morphing into a one-man team?
Liverpool had yet to show if their stumble had stumbled again as they play later today and so it was up to the Gunners to show that they’re in it to win it this time and with that in mind Arteta went full-strength against a team and manager who has often caused us heartache. With ‘finishers’ on the bench Mikel had the options, five of them, to rest, rotate and save legs if we got the job done early, ‘if’ though can be a big word.
Fulham were as organised and as obdurate as we’ve come to expect in recent years and pretty much held Arsenal at arms length in the opening exchanges. The game was already developing into something familiar for Arsenal fans as we pushed forward but allowed the opponents some hope on the break.
During the opening 15 minutes the Gunners did seem to exhibit signs of a lack of sharpness probably due to the Interlull, but as the opening 15 minutes drew to a close a long accurate pass to Trossard opened up the Fulham defence and his cross was met beautifully by Calafiori who swept the ball into the net. Unfortunately, he was offside just as Saka was at Craven Cottage the previous season. Eze up to this point had been peripheral and a little disappointing, we were definitely missing Odegaard prompting us from midfield.
On 26 minutes a sharp incisive pass from Iwobi found Harry Wilson who fortunately put his shot wide – a warning we heeded and the defence closed ranks for the rest of the half. On 37 minutes Gyokeres was found by a cross from Saka but his hard low drive was parried by Leno in the Fulham goal and the chance was cleared.
Arsenal were increasing the pressure and a minute later another Saka cross was met by Calafiori but his shot sailed over the bar. A couple of minutes later a promising attack for Arsenal was stopped in its tracks by the referee because Josh King had got smacked in the face by his own player Jimenez and had gone down holding his face. It seemed a bit unfair but that’s the rules I’m afraid. Almost immediately Fulham‘s best defender Andersen went off injured and a couple of minutes later a nice build up lead to Declan Rice shooting just wide. Half time 0-0.
The second half opened with Arsenal on the front foot following no doubt some stern words from Arteta. On the 48th minute a strangely undercooked Eze burst forward on the right and whipped in a cross towards Trossard loitering on the far post but he wastefully shot wide. On the 49th minute a Saka dribble into the box caused confusion but his ball into a melee of players was cleared.
The game was beginning to become a little stretched although Fulham were still basing their tactics around the low block, but a misplaced pass by Rice saw Fulham flood forward and for a moment I was concerned but our brilliant defence dealt with it.
Then came the winner and predictably it came from a corner. Saka chipped his corner into the mixer and Gabriel got a flick on to Trossard who again was loitering but this time he put the ball into the onion bag, and that really was that. Well except for the controversy on the 65th minute! But before that Merino came on for the disappointing Eze as the first of only three changes, which surprised me with Atletico due up next.
Then the major talking point of the game, Saka got the ball on the edge of the box dribbled along the edge of the box and was fouled, it looked a clear penalty to me and the referee pointed to the spot. However, after a long protracted VAR investigation it was decided that the Fulham defender got his foot to the ball before he fouled Saka, even thought it was clear to me that he had caught Saka’s knee fractionally before he had touched the ball (it only seems to happen to Arsenal) anyway the boys dug in.
Well we’ve been here before but we are a bit more streetwise now and the players reacted calmly and didn’t let the injustice of the penalty decision knock them off of their stride. The rest of the game had a slight end to end tinge about it but Arsenal never looked like they were going to concede and probably should’ve added to the one goal that they scored.
Martinelli came on in the 81st minute for Trossard and probably should’ve come on a bit sooner and even though there was nine minutes of added time there was enough time for Nordgaard to come on for Viktor in the 96th minute and for Leno to make a double save from Gyokeres and Martinelli just before the last sub.
And so we march on.
By Kev.
Morning Kev, all.
Good write up Kev, thank you.
The game wasn’t the best and we really struggled to get our passing and play in general going. Can’t recall the last time so many passes went astray, especially from the players making the errors. But as you said, we grew into the game and improved. 1-0 win at Craven Cottage, great result I think, especially after an international break.
Morning Gooners and Rico, yeah that pretty much sums it up Rico. I’m looking forward to Madueke getting fit and seeing both him and Saka in the team.
It’ll be interesting to watch Gyokeres play against Atletico and see the difference in how he’s referee’d, at the moment it’s like the WWE, 3 falls and a submission…
Me too Kev, Havertz as well because he gives Arteta another option. Could we see two up top one day I wonder?
The longer that pen review went on yesterday, the more I thought Taylor was going to stick to his guns but no…
Re Gyokeres, I hope he blocks out the idiots in the media who are constantly criticising him. He is doing everything he can to score, you can see it in his face.
Morning Rico and all,
Nice write up Kev. looking at the ladder the run into christmas is going to to be very interesting as it starting to get very close between the top few side’s
Morning Geoff, at least we’ve played a few tricky opponents already. Utd, Liverpool and Newcastle away included.
Good morning all. Kev you and I watched the same game. Both the ref and Var concentrated on the second phase of the penalty shout, totally ignoring the knock on Saka’s knee which to me was a clear foul and should have been punished with a penalty.
It’s becoming ingrained in football that if a player gets a knock he can sit on his arse until the ref stops the game. If it’s a possible head injury that’s okay, but the ref should not stop the game for anything and everything. The game was stopped when a Fulham player had a painful shoulder, he sat down and the ref was forced to allow the physios on. He should have told the player to walk off off he needed treatment.
It’s my opinion that a player appearing to have a head injury should be compelled to leave the pitch for a concussion assessment, as is the case in Rugby Union, that would reduce the number of feigned injuries and also reduce the ridiculous amounts of added time that result.
So he isn’t scoring goals but his movement up front is giving us options and causing headaches for defenders.
Actually , the longer Taylor’s deliberations went on the more convinced I was that he was being told to go back on his decision after all it was our old friend Stuart Attwell acting as the worm in his ear.
As I said last night I was more enraged by the continual fouling of Gyokeres especially the Berge clothesline that was totally missed by the officials . If I can find it I will post it in case you missed it as well.
Having said that Kev’s assessment of the match is about right , we started like a team that had just got through the arrivals hall at Southend Airport on the way to the game and taken a boat up the Thames and were feeling a little queasy. However as the game grew on we took control and they only had a brief revival after the penalty turn over when both their crowd and team woke up for about 15 minutes.
3 points , clean sheet as Cicero said , Top of the pile but with Atletico and Palace coming up we actually need United to do us a favour.
I thought Gyokeres did well yesterday,worked hard,held the ball up,tried hard(perhaps he is trying too hard) I bet the other players love playing with him.
Let’s face it, a poor performance,could be a few factors there but we got the win. Have to give Fulham credit too,although they were time wasting from before we scored,and despite the ref adding on loads of added time,it was funny to see them scrambling around as time ran out. Not enjoyable at the time but not a lot about that game was.
3 points,another clean sheet,let’s move on.
Playing devils advocate Cicero, didn’t the referee stop the game 2/3 times for Odegaard’s shoulder injury?
What frustrates me is read Keith Hackett’s view on the penalty Gyokeres wasn’t awarded. He suggested that because Gyokeres tried to stay on his feet, he didn’t get the decision. Honestly, these officials make things up as they go along depending which club is involved.
I was thinking “clear and obvious” which is what Taylor should have been thinking and the ten minutes it took him to decide should have told him to stick to his original decision.
As you say Rico, Odegaard got the benefit too, but he could just as well walked off after assessment and probably should have rather than risking aggravating the injury.
Agree Cicero. The fa are supposed to be increasing ball in play time etc, yet they’re missing so many obvious ways the game is being stopped. I know the watch stops but the game is being stop/started too much. Even “head injuries” are being used to break up play because they’re feigned and there’s little which can e done to stop it.
Cheers all, I’ll keep going as long as we keep winning.
Geoff, both Liverpool and Man City expect us to crack and drop stupid points, the media thinks the same. Attacking Gyokeres is part of that narrative and although he’s a bit unsophisticated around the edges I love his commitment whilst defenders must hate him and he’s learning to give a little back as I noticed when he clobbered a couple of their players in a very crafty manner – good for him.
It’s interesting to see that the media and pundits are ignoring the rough treatment he gets, maybe he needs to go down more often because at least that’ll draw attention to what’s happening to him?
We all know that in most cases that the majority of 50/50 decisions and even the 60/40 ones will go against us, it’s how it’s been since Arsene Wenger, but we have enough experience and mental toughness to deal with it now as does Arteta.
Limey, playing poorly but getting a win is going to be crucial if we are to win the league. It’s what others do but we’ve not been able to over the last few years.