Fulham survived another London derby and another clash with Arsenal, holding off the Gunners to secure a valuable 1-1 draw.
Despite a barrage from the visitors, it was the Cottagers who took the lead in the 11th minute after Raúl Jiménez converted their very first chance of the game.
Arsenal did draw level after a 23rd corner goal since the start of last season, with William Saliba tapping into an empty seven minutes into the second half, and Bukayo Saka thought he’d won the game just before fulltime, nodding home Gabriel Martinelli’s whipped cross – but the Brazilian was offside, leaving both sides to settle for a draw.
As it happened
In London, Fulham are on top. They’re without a defeat against sides from their city since January, and Arsenal were their latest victims. But make no mistake: they did not have things their own way. How Mikel Arteta’s side didn’t win is quite the mystery.
Looking at every quantifiable metric, Arsenal were the quote unquote better side. They had more of the ball, more shots, more time spent in the final third. They should’ve scored a hatful; they didn’t even score first.
In the first 10 minutes, Fulham didn’t have a sniff. Everything came down Saka’s side; every tackle was greeted with an Arsenal man winning the second ball. It was a baptism of fire in the unrelenting London rain.
And yet, somehow, come the 11th minute, they were behind. Jiménez made a hopeful run into the Arsenal half and Kenny Tete played him in. He still had it all to do though, and the crucial player in the equation was Jakub Kiwior, in the side to replace the injured Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel, and ultimately getting the wrong side of the striker.
Once Jiménez was in on goal, he did the rest; he’d hardly entered the box before pulling the trigger and sending a deadly low strike into David Raya’s bottom right corner. It was smash-and-grab personified.
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So, Arsenal spent the rest of the half plugging for their equaliser and finding themselves driving down dead ends. Bernd Leno was the target of countless crosses, some of which he punched back into the danger zone, some of which caught with ease. He was never truly punished, though.
The best chance came from Declan Rice, volleying wide in the 24th minute after latching onto an excellent Leandro Trossard ball. But that rather sums it up; they had five shots and 65% of the ball in the first half, yet they just couldn’t penetrate. Fulham, riding their luck perhaps, did do a very good job of ensuring possession did not turn to chances.
So, come the second half, it was time for old reliable. Arsenal are the set-piece experts in England and beyond, so there were no real surprises when they made another corner count in the 52nd minute.
Rice whipped in an inswinger, Kai Havertz nodded the ball across the face of goal and, with Leno now nowhere to be seen, Saliba applied the finishing touch into an empty net. There was a VAR check, with Antonee Robinson very, very nearly playing him offside, but the goal stood, and Arsenal were finally level.
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The rest of the half continued in much the same way as the rest of the game; Arsenal knocked on the door, and Fulham stubbornly refused their entry – that was until the 88th minute.
Substitute Martinelli whipped in a cross to the back post – very much the order of the day – and Saka did tremendously well to stoop down under pressure from Robinson and force a header into the near post. Arsenal had won it right at the death; they’d huffed, they’d puffed, and they’d finally blown the cottage down.
But wait! VAR had to give it a look. Saka wasn’t offside, but Martinelli had timed his run just a tad overzealously. Fulham’s defensive line was just resolute enough, and the Gunners’ joy was cut agonisingly short – and Craven Cottage remained upstanding after another London derby survival.
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Fulham remain in 10th, this a valuable enough point in their pursuit of European football. They’re now only two adrift of Nottingham Forest having dented a city rival’s title hopes in the process.
But for Arsenal, these were two points dropped rather than one gained. They’re still second, but now six points adrift of the league-leaders who happen to have a game in hand. So, this clash, level on the pitch, certainly had one winner: Liverpool.
The lineups
FUL: Leno; Robinson, Bassey, Diop, Tete; Berge, Lukić; Traoré, Smith Rowe, Iwobi; Jiménez
ARS: Raya; Timber, Kiwior, Saliba, Partey; Rice, Jorginho, Ødegaard; Trossard, Havertz, Saka