Mikel Arteta couldn’t hide his frustration as Arsenal squandered the opportunity to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to four points.
The Gunners arrived at Craven Cottage in fine form having won four games on the bounce but they were left stunned when Fulham’s Raul Jimenez netted with the home side’s first shot at goal.
While Arsenal dominated the ball and made the better chances they struggled to work their way through Fulham’s compact defence and once again relied on their mastery of set pieces to get back on level terms. Rice’s corner was met by Havertz who found Saliba to tap home from close range on 52 minutes.
Both sides struggled to create much from open play, so when Bukayo Saka headed in Gabriel Martinelli’s cross in the 89th minute, it looked like Arsenal had snatched the points. However, a lengthy VAR review ruled the goal offside, compounding a frustrating afternoon for Arteta’s side.
Facing questions from _[BBC Sport](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/videos/c5yv77l2y2ro)_, Arteta reflected: “We did all the things that we wanted to do in the game but unfortunately conceded one goal from one shot but the way the team played, the way they wanted to win, it was unbelievable.
“It’s very unfortunate, it’s millimetres you win or don’t win in this league and that’s the disappointing thing tonight.
“The way we started was unbelievable, we started to dominate the ball, the high press, every aspect of the game and suddenly you are one goal down, that’s the quality of this league any individual can do one action and you are one down.
“The team reacted immediately, we scored a goal, we wanted another one, we fight until the end but we didn’t get rewarded today.”
Having netted from a series of set pieces in the last three games, Arsenal again made their expertise in that area count although Arteta lamented his side not showing more prowess from open play.
“We should have scored from different ways because we had some big chances. In all the situations we had, the last pass, the last action wasn’t there to finalise the game, but this is the way, there’s not much more that you can do against an opposition like this here. At the end, you have to find a way to win the game.
“You can always do more, but we’ve done a lot, a lot against an opposition that a lot of teams suffer against. We did really well but one thing is deserving to win and the other fact is to win it.
“We had really good momentum, the team is playing really well, winning a lot of games, today we wanted to do it again. I mean, the performance was 100 per cent there, the winning probability will be so high but this is football and the margins are so small.”