Arsenal (0) 2 Fulham (1) 2

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Saturday, 26th August 2023. Kick-off time: 3.00pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Thomas Partey, Ben White, William Saliba, Jakob Kiwior; Martin Ødegaard, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Gabriel Magalhães, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, David Raya, Reiss Nelson, Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Scorers: Bukayo Saka (70 mins, penalty), Eddie Nketiah (72 mins)

Yellow Cards: Mikel Arteta

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 71%

Referee: Paul Tierney

Assistant Referees: Neil Davies, Scott Ledger

Fourth Official: Thomas Bramall

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Darren England; AVAR Dan Cook

Attendance: 59,961

Good to see Gabriel Jesus back in contention for this afternoon’s derby game against the Cottagers, and by being on the substitute’s bench, it certainly looks like he is fit and raring to go. Takehiro Tomayasu is suspended today, and Jakob Kiwior will be slotting nicely into the back four in his absence.

Unbelievably, within a minute of the start, we were a goal down when, after a silly mistake from Bukayo Saka, the ball found Andreas Pereira, whose right-footed shot from outside our penalty area beat Aaron Ramsdale, and ended up in the bottom left hand corner for the visitors to take the lead! We woke up and responded quickly, and in doing so, a curling Gabriel Martinelli shot culed around the post and into the crowd, and then a ball from Leandro Trossard to the back post was met by Bukayo Saka, who flicked the ball back into the middle of the penalty area for a waiting Kai Havertz, but his header went astray. We are slowly dictating play now, with Declan Rice completely controlling his midfield area, and after a nice pass from Gabriel Martinelli, which left Leandro Trossard in a perfect scoring position, his shot was easily gathered up by former Gunner Bernd Leno, who keeps goal for Fulham, of course. The visitors almost grabbed a second goal when a volley from Raúl Jiménez flew over the crossbar, and although the Cottagers look dangerous on the break, their efforts end up going nowhere at the moment. On the half hour, Bukayo Saka found himself in space behind the Fulham defence to meet a cross, but his header was weak, sending it into the ground and bouncing over the bar. After another attack, which came to nothing, a universal groan could be heard from out supporters, who are getting just as frustrated as our chaps are on the pitch. Our captain did get the ball into the net, five minutes before the break, but it was disallowed for offside; a minute or so later, Martin Ødegaard took a strong shot at the Fulham goal, but sadly Bernd Leno gathered that ball up easily. As the rain started to fall, and half-time approaches, everyone in the stadium is starting to wonder what exactly Arsenal have to do to score the equalising goal here today, and as referee Paul Tierney does indeed bring the first forty-five minutes to a close, it is felt across the stadium that it must surely be a matter of time before we score that goal which we so desperately need.

For the second half, Eddie Nketiah replaced Leandro Trossard, in order to refresh the strikers, and we started out completely on the good foot. Bukayo Saka wriggled beautifully between two Fulham defenders on the right wing, cut inside and whacked a shot towards the goal that Bernd Leno stretched into the air to grab. Good start, chaps. Calvin Bassey received the second Fulham yellow card for time wasting, and as consistent pressure from our fowards pressurise the visitor’s goal, it surely must be a matter of time before we score. Eleven minutes after the restart, Fábio Vieira replaced Kai Havertz up front, whilst Thomas Partey was swapped for Oleksandr Zinchenko, and almost immediately they joined the action, when a superb cross from Fábio Vieira was headed out of the Fulham penalty area by Issa Diop. Yet another fine shot from our captain went inches over the bar, and shortly afterwards, he released Eddie Nketiah behind the Fulham defence on the right wing; his low, strong cross found Gabriel Martinelli on the opposite side of the penalty area but the subsequent low ball from him was cleared by the visitor’s defence. And then, a massive beam of light at the end of an existing tunnel appeared when Fábio Vieira got in behind Kenny Tete and the Fulham defender slid in clumsily to take our man down in the penalty area for a surefire penalty! After the usual VAR check (which is always a heartstopper), Bukayo Saka stepped up to the plate, and made no mistake to even up the scores with twenty minutes of the game remaining, and of course, our supporters went wild. Now we really do have a match! Two minutes later, we took the lead, when a Fábio Vieira cross found a waiting Eddie Nketiah, whose right-footed shot from the centre of the penalty area found the centre of Bernd Leno’s goal. Exciting stuff, chaps! Unbelievably, our manager, Mikel Arteta has found himself in the referee’s book for an infringement outside his technical area, and on the pitch, our obvious domination continues with less than ten minutes of the game remaining. The visitors went down to ten men when Calvin Bassey got his marching orders for a second bookable offence after blocking Eddie Nketiah, and literally, with three minutes of the match remaining, the visitors grabbed an equalising goal, courtesy of João Palhinha! How on earth could such a thing happen? Let us hope that in the nine minutes’ injury time, we can grab a winning goal here. Gabriel Jesus replaced Declan Rice in order to get more firepower on the pitch, and we started to literally throw everything at the Fulham defence now, with a spirited shot by Fábio Vieira being saved, and then Oleksandr Zinchenko’s deep cross was nodded away by Antonee Robinson. Tosin Adarabioyo headed away a cross from Fábio Vieira and incredibly a minute or so later, Aaron Ramsdale pulled off a superb match-winning save from a shot by Adama Traore and as the match ebbed away, a final chance to score was punched away by Bernd Leno from the head of Eddie Nketiah, just as referee Paul Tierney blew the final whistle.

The stats tell their own story somehow; seventy-one per cent possesssion, seventeen shots on goal (nine on target) and still we were unable to take all three points here at home. However, we did appear to just switch off at times, and it is to be noted that in both the Nottingham Forest match and today, we conceded goals in the last quarter of an hour of the game, which is something that surely needs addressing as we go through the season. It is still early days of course, but these things must be nipped firmly in the bud before we start our European campaign. A long road ahead.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Manchester United at the Emirates on Sunday, 3rd September at 4.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon