**Arsenal**arrived in **West London**as the team at the top of the Premier League table. However, Craven Cottage has not been a happy hunting ground for the Gunners, who drew 1-1 at the stadium in December 2024 and lost 2-1 there in December 2023. It was time for the record to change.
**Fulham**were compact, disciplined, and clever in the use of the ball, forcing their fellow Londoners to sweat in the first half and at the start of the second. However, they would be undone by a familiar threat, and slowly worn down by a player who will be keen to fire the title contenders over the line.
Story of the Match
Mikel Arteta kept changes to the lineup from the 2-0 win over West Ham to a minimum. Eberechi Eze replaced injured club captain Martin Odegaard as the ten, but elsewhere things stayed the same.
Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi completed the midfield unit, Leandro Trossard started over Gabriel Martinelli on the left wing, and Riccardo Calafiori continued as the first-choice left back over Myles Lewis-Skelly. Viktor Gyokeres was looking for his first goal in four league fixtures.
Marco Silva was worried about having to make do without both of his strikers again after a 3-1 defeat at Bournemouth. RodrigoMunizmissed out, but Raul Jimenez was fit enough to start upfront.
**Tom Cairney**came into the midfield to fill in for the injured Sasa Lukic. Silva switched to a back four, dropped Calvin Bassey and Issa Diop to the bench, and started Jorge Cuenca in a central role.
The Cottagers sat in their typical 4-4-2 formation and did not make it easy for **Arsenal**to build through the middle of the pitch. Since Calafiori moved infield ahead of Rice and Zubimendi, it also meant that the hosts could pinch a couple of ambitious passes out wide from Gabriel Magalhaes.
Jimenez called David Raya in action, Harry Wilson sent a strike spinning wide of the target, and Joshua King was buzzing about in the right places. **Fulham**were up for causing another upset.
However, the Gunners thought that they had gone ahead after fifteen minutes. Trossard took control of a clipped ball, laying off a first-time pass for the underlapping Calafiori, and the left back caressed a sweet strike into the back of the net. In the end, VAR chalked off the goal for offside positioning.
The pressure continued from Fulham. Alex Iwobi drifted inside, taking attention away from Wilson, who again failed to test Raya before a cross-shot from King forced the shot stopper to tip over the bar.
By the half-hour mark, the Gunners had conceded five shots, the second most they have faced in a first half of Premier League football this campaign. The guests had none, and they would have to wait until Gyokeres got on the end of a Bukayo Saka through ball to call Bernd Leno into action.
There were a couple of blows for Silva’s side to deal with. Cairney pulled up with some stiffness in his back before Joachim Andersen was unable to continue, and Diop swapped in for him at the back. However, Silva would certainly be the more content of the two leaders in the dugout at half time.
The second half started with Saka keen to send a message to the opposition. He chopped inside Sessegnon to earn a free kick before smartly shuffling outside his marker to drive into the penalty area. On this occasion, he could cut back the ball, but neither Gyokeres nor Zubimendi connected.
Wilson would spurn two more scoring opportunities as the Cottagers had still not hit the target with all their endeavour, while Gyokeres went down in the box with an unsuccessful appeal for a penalty.
It was time for a familiar plan to bail out the Gunners. Set-piece delivery had been wayward for most of the match, but Saka swung a successful cross onto the head of Gabriel, whose flick on found Trossard at the far post. The Belgian bundled the ball home for his first league goal this season.
Silva went for a double substitution. **Kevin**came on for King, Emile Smith Rowe, a Hale End graduate, filled in as the number ten, and Iwobi, also formerly of Arsenal, moved into the pivot.
Meanwhile, Mikel Merino took the place of Eze, but all eyes were on a talismanic right winger.
Saka twinkle-toed his way through bodies on the left before firing a strike to force a save from Leno. Moments later, he was back with chalk on his boots on the right flank, shifting inside **Kevin**and drawing a tackle from the winger. He went down under pressure, and the referee awarded a penalty.
VAR deemed that Kevin had got a touch on the ball, letting the hosts off the hook. They were still alive in the contest, but they had the task of trying to take apart the meanest defence in the league.
**Fulham**had a lot of possession, some set-pieces and plenty of endeavour. But the Gunners are well-drilled as a defensive unit, and the little of the ball that they had was enough to threaten a second.
Gyokeres threw himself about as a battering ram, firing over the bar on one occasion and forcing a save from Leno on another. **Arsenal**would not make the game completely safe until the final whistle, but they ultimately would walk away from Craven Cottage satisfied with the eventual outcome.
He might not have capped his performance with a goal or assist, but **Bukayo Saka**emerged as the difference maker on the day between two teams who have mastered the art of keeping contests tight.
Free from the shackles of Antonee Robinson, Saka took the battle to Ryan Sessegnon, and was the brightest spark in Arsenal's attack. **Fulham**might have threatened in several spells, but when the time came to be decisive, the right winger stepped up above the rest of the forwards across both squads.
The number seven got his bearings right with the delivery for the only goal of the game, turned up the heat at the start of the second half, and was a little unlucky not to have earned a penalty in this phase.
For all the work that **Arsenal**did in the summer, there is still no doubt about who their star man is.