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Another Fulham disappointment brings back Arsenal attacking questions again

Suburban Gooners Logo Suburban Gooners Logo I wasn’t able to watch the game yesterday, as I was at a Christmas get together with the family (we’re off over Christmas so this was a bit of a non-negotiable from The Management’s family), but I’ve seen the goals and a few of the Arsenal chances, so today’s musings will be very much ‘vibes’ based off the back of knowing the result in hindsight.

The first thought that comes to mind is that the title is probably done, in a repeat of how I felt after we lost to them on New Year’s Eve last season. That defeat last year left us with what felt like a mountain to climb and it was Liverpool and City who were behind us at the time. But the gap was smaller between the two teams and there hadn’t been the same signs that we’ve had this year that doesn’t feel like it’s going to be our year. Sometimes things just conspire against us and that’s kind of how I feel this morning. I was talking to a few gents in the pub pre Man United and we were saying that we pretty much had to be flawless between now and the beginning of 2025; this draw means we have gone four games into this 2024 seven game run and we’ve already dropped points. And I think it’s also the way we dropped points yesterday that will cause the most alarm.

Fulham scored with their first and only attempt in the first half. But they scored early and Arsenal had time to response. Fulham went in to the low block by the sounds of what I’ve read and we didn’t really have a response to it. We created some chances that I’ve seen in the highlights packages, but they weren’t all sitters and really for a side that is supposed to be challenging for a title, you’d expect a greater volume and some better chance creation than it sounds like we did.

We did respond by that corner routine for a Saliba tap in and you have to say that Set Pieces are certainly working their magic right now, but you need more from your forwards on a day like yesterday. You sometimes – up against a low block – have to have a bit of magic to sprinkle in with the organisation of what is a potent weapon of ours with those corners and free kicks. But we just looked like we had our scoring boots off yesterday and this is the sort of game that when you’re going to win a title, you have to be able to have an answer for.

I mention above that it doesn’t feel like our season and the injuries are once again playing their part. It feels like every time we get a player back, another one goes down and I think most of us – certainly me included – expected to see Gabriel and Calafiori back in the team yesterday. Perhaps Arteta was just being super cautious and after Kiwior did alright against United he probably thought he could afford to be, but Fulham’s goal looked a little bit too easy to move from front to back from Jimenez and for the second season in a row it was him that undid us. I just hope big Gabi and Calafiori’s injuries aren’t more serious, because missing Zinchenko yesterday also meant we had to shuffle Timber to left back and Partey in to right back. We have certainly been punished with injuries and suspensions more than any of our rivals this season, that’s for sure. You need a little bit of luck in a season to win a title and you need to have key players staying fit and that has already not been the case for us. I keep thinking that soon we’ll get players back and this will all be behind us, but every time it looks like we’re turning a corner, another player goes down with something. Some of it is unlucky (Ben White hardly gets injured and Big Gabi played some of the most minutes last season), but some of it is banking on players who are just unreliable (Zinchenko and Tomiyasu we know, but Calafiori’s injury history tells me we’ve possibly got another one who will constantly suffer with injuries – hope I’m wrong).

I’ve also seen plenty of talk from fellow Gooners post game and yesterday about needing to bolster our attack too and it feels a little weird saying that when just over a week ago we were coming off the back of a 5-2 at West Ham having beaten Sporting 5-1 in midweek, but there is something in there about our rotational options. Gabriel Jesus just doesn’t score any more. Sterling – to my eyes – just doesn’t really look like he is going to make an impact in any important games. Martinelli and Trossard have had their sticky patches. We have Saka who once again nearly won it for us yesterday (Martinelli, mate, look along the line…), but it can’t always be him. Liverpool have Salah in response to us having Saka I suppose, but he’s on 13 and Saka has five this season. They have that man who will always put the ball in the net, we have a team collective but we don’t have that man who almost always seems guaranteed a goal like Salah does. Having said that – we’ve scored as many as Liverpool have this season, but I guess it needs to be a little more evenly distributed, because it’s better to win a bunch of games 3-1 than it is a few heavy scoring games and then peppering your season with as many draws as we’ve had.

Having more players who can do it off the bench is key and I suspect Arsenal must be looking at it, because Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino on the bench yesterday have two goals between them all season. We need more from that squad in games like yesterday. That has to be from looking what’s out there in January you would have thought.

And that be it from me for today I think. Tomorrow we start to look ahead to Monaco and what a win might do for us on Wednesday in that annoying Champions League format. Back tomorrow as we start to look ahead to it. See you then.

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Gooner born in 1982 from Harlow, Essex, now living in Uxbridge. I say what I see - frequently wrong, but hey, it's just an opinion piece, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.