I am sure I am not the first to make this point but a few years back I became heartily sick of patched up Arsenal sides shipping points in listless performances directly after the interlull. I have no evidence (and I suspect it probably seemed worse than it actually was) to back up that particular perception on my part, but it certainly looked that way to mine own eyes. This season’s first opponents after the thrice-damned interlull were Forest at home but they were led by Agent Ange and we couldn’t really read too much into that 3-0 stroll – alas poor Ange by the way, we knew him well, though he wasn’t in all honesty a man of infinite tactics, he probably deserved better than the discourteous second-hand sacking he reportedly got from the Forest owner whose name I forget (I know, I know, but even a seasoned pro like myself can’t be expected to remember the name of every shifty crook who owns a football club these days). Anyway, I digress. Yesterday evening UK time, we faced Fulham away, a somewhat sterner test of late than of yore. How would it go?
Well, I must say that I much prefer this new, improved version of Post-Interlull Arsenal. It gets those difficult to shift stains three points and keeps the sheets clean! So, it’s no thank- you to two boxes of my old powder the old and in with the new! Yesterday at the Cottage it was the turn of Fulham to experience our ariel threat and once again our masters of the lower skies were bold enough to clinch a good though admittedly not quite dazzling win and make it five on the spin for Mikel and his merry men. How on earth did they do it you ask?
Well, first things first, the team news at kick-off showed only one change from the side that started against West Ham in early October. Captain Øde will be out for a few weeks yet and so Eze came more central and Zubi dropped into midfield,
Raya
Timber Saliba Gabriel Calafiori
Zubimendi Rice
Saka Eze Tross
Gyökeres
The First Half
The first 10 minutes passed fairly uneventfully, we were controlling the game in our now customary manner, until our first misplaced pass led to a quick attack from Fulham and a deflected shot from Wilson going out for a corner. Cairney had a shot blocked by Zubi from the corner and then a minute or two later Wilson steered the ball wide of Raya’s far post. Fulham had announced their presence, though Cairney’s shot was going wide and Raya had Wilson’s effort covered and realistically they were far from the very good chances that a straw-clutching Silva tried to claim afterwards. Our own marker was thrown down with far greater aplomb on 15 minutes when a long diagonal from Timber found Leo on the edge of the box, his nicely cushioned knock-down was rammed home first-time from the edge of the box by Cala. It really was a superb finish by our wandering minstrel marred only by the mean-spirited application of some obscure rule I believe to be called offside. Much probing followed and we looked to get Saka more involved, never a bad plan, but little to report in terms of clear-cut chances. We did finally manage to get Gyökeres in on goal at one point but our former glove butler Leno was out quickly to manage the angle and saved well. Fulham, who in fairness had a couple of important players out, lost another when Andersen limped off on 40 minutes. Declan flashed a shot across a goal and that was it for the first half. Really, I couldn’t say I was particularly anxious at the 0-0 as we generally find a way and have a variety of options but of course it is always better to be in front.
2nd half
The loudspeakers knocked out London’s Calling and the 2nd half of our own clash got under way. An encouraging start saw Leo with a chance, quickly followed by a goalmouth scramble in which ball nearly sneaked into net and then a couple of corners. Journalistic integrity (eh? Is that some new-fangled thing? ed.) compels me to admit that after the 2nd corner I thought we’re not going to score with this near post corner lark. Then, just as I was forgetting Fulham actually had an attack, they broke well and a decent Iwobi cross was volleyed over by Wilson, a half-chance but about as close as they got. Then we scored.
Fulham 0 The Arsenal 1
Just before the hour mark we won a corner on our right. Saka pinged in a cross at a better trajectory to the near post and Gabriel, as is his wont, won a header amongst a throng of players competing for the ball. The ball flashed across the largely deserted six-yard box to a waiting Leo who thighed it home ahead of the just too slow Fulham defender. We had ‘persil’-vered and finally Saka’s skill, Gabriel’s athleticism and Leo’s speed of thought had given us the lead. A good and deserved goal for a largely dominant first 15 in the 2nd half.
The immediate aftermath of the goal saw Merino come on for Eze and another of own, ESR come on for Fulham. A defensive change by us? Not really as it turned out, we simply controlled the game even more. Our supporters were in good voice by now too, knowing perhaps that with a defence of this calibre the game was no longer afoot for Fulham.
That was pretty much it in truth, Saka and Gyökeres both had chances, Taylor gave us a penalty, which VAR overturned (rightly I thought after about 5 seconds watching but take 5 minutes if you want lads). Saka was given man of the match – he certainly had a good 2nd half. Nørgaard came on for his PL debut. Fulham had huffed and puffed, I suppose. Taylor blew his whistle. The End.
Round-up
We played well enough for post-Interlull and got a deserved three points
It would have been nice if Viktor had scored but I thought he played fine again
Our defence was outstanding and from memory Raya didn’t have a save to make
I thought Declan was very good too
Mikel made me laugh after the game when he said “three weeks ago the league was over if we lost at Newcastle, now we’re top of the league”. A pint of perspective anyone?
Not sure if any of my fellow Holics had made the journey but the away support looked very cheerful after the game, hope you had a nice time!
Another challenging game up next, home in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, however we go on in seemingly good heart and need fear no one these days.
We are Top of the League!
And so Arsenal march on from the banks of the Thames having absconded with three mahoosive and no doubt underestimated three points. What’s not to like, as our Osaka correspondent has so clearly and cleverly pointed out. Confidence continues to coalesce among the North London Forever folk.👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Nice one Matt – as ever including a good splash of amusement.
I have to disagree completely about the penalty decision though.
The implication in that incident is that the Fulham player got a touch on the ball before …. well, before what ?
Before Saka did I guess, and that was precisely because Saka couldn’t get a touch on the ball because he had already been taken down at the knee / thigh.
So what did Atwell on VAR actually watch ? Probably catching up on last week’s Coronation Street ….. in fact, it appears the all important view was not shown – to VAR ? – to Taylor ? I’ll try to post a link below – I say try because most of my attempts to do such result in blowing some size criteria or other. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻
https://x.com/peaksxnti/status/1979633815703478556?s=48&t=EqT1i8Zy95E7NS0sqkJRhA
There you go 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Re: 3.
Penalty.
Clear as day.
Clear as the dawn after armageddon.
It’s a clumsy challenge side on into Saka but also behind him. If he hadn’t got a touch VAR wouldn’t have been able to intervene. He touched the ball after taking out Saka so it should have stood. And it wasn’t a clear and obvious error by the referee.
It’s just so poor from PGMOL They’re so full of contradictions and make it up as they go along. I’m sure other teams suffer their ineptitude.
A fine report but for your opinion on the penalty, Matt. I suggest you repeat the watching cycle with a new, improved deter gent.
The view shown on the link that Trev kindly provided clearly shows that the Fulham player’s knee struck Saka’s knee laterally knocking him over BEFORE that player extended his leg to touch the ball with his studs. The view from the other side fails to demonstrate the initial strong contact that knocked Saka over and simply shows the ball being deflected by the brush with the Fulham player’s studs.
I really don’t know what the VAR official and Taylor saw or thought they saw on their monitors but despite all that technology and the potential to view episodes like this from multiple angles and in slow motion, they did not see what they did not want to see – a foul on an Arsenal player in the penalty area! That his foot touched the ball after he knocked Saka over matters not a jot, despite Taylor’s claim that that was a decisive factor.
Utter bollocks!
That’s two clear penalties (excluding that on Gyökeres in this match) that PGMO have denied Arsenal this season fortunately failing to deny us all three points against the ‘codes and Fulham. I wonder what witchcraft they will try next?
A spot-on summary, OM, that got all the main points out in the wash. To me, the key one was that the interlull rust was rinsed off quickly. We were a bit sloppy in the first 15 mins, but thereafter in solid control mode. Once we went ahead, there was only ever going to be one outcome. I thought Timber was as deserving of MOTM as Saka, and Rice was better in the second half than the first for reasons I went back and forth over with CER in the previous drinks. It was a shame that Calafiori was offside for what otherwise would have been a goal of the season candidate.
US TV shows what a ref is looking at during a VAR review, The VAR screen was frozen for a good couple of minutes, which explained the delay in the decision. It was also frozen at the point which showed Kevin’s foot on the ball, which may have unduly influenced Taylor. He was then shown some static pictures, rarely conclusive, before they got the video working again. It seemed to me that it was a borderline decision, and I suppose the defender gets the benefit of the doubt, but, as Trev says, it was hardly a clear and obvious error by Taylor. I thought during the game that the penalty shout for Gyokeres, when he stayed on his feet for a couple of paces before tumbling over, was a stronger one.
Matt,
Thankyou for an excellent report . Nice that you’re not afraid to air our dirty washing in public . This was a very professional performance, the sort that wins titles, especially when as you point out we were a bit disjointed after the interlull. To muzzle a side with the craft and pace of Fulham so completely was a fine achievement . Fulham are a tricky side and two years ago we slipped to defeat here having just capitulated to West Ham at home. This season we’ve repeated those fixtures and not allowed either side a shot on goal .
Several good performances- Timber, Calafiori , Rice and Saka in the second half particularly. Eze , Trossard and Gyokeres weren’t really at in my view but everyone worked hard and we were very solid .
As for the penalty , it was given by the ref, and it wasn’t a clear and obvious error . The Gyokeres incident was also a good shout .Nice to be on top of the league despite the ring rust .
Evidence of Gyokeres making a difference by creating space for others, as offered by Robbie Mustoe, one of NBC’s analysts on its Sunday morning highlights show: Arsenal have had ten different goal scorers in the league so far this season, whereas Man City have had just five, four of whom have scored only once, with Haarling getting the rest. Mustoe’s judgement of Gyokeres would match that of most in this fine establishment: the Swede is doing all the right things and progressing in the right direction but the jury will be out unitl he starts scoring more goals like he did at Sporting. Mustoe’s co-analyst Robbie Earle suggested that, if we continue to spread the goals around and win the league, around a dozen league goals for the season would be sufficient to consider Gyokeres a success. The Swede is on pace for 14.
The NBC highlights show also showed another potential off-the-ball penalty incident in which Gyokeres was hauled to the ground by the neck by Diop. Looked like the clearest-cut case for a penalty of the three.
Ned – I thought Mustoe’s “he’s doing all the right things “ was going to be combined with Morecombe’s “but not necessarily in the right order”. Gyokeres had been hauled to the ground by the neck a number of times this season, not least by Botman, I believe from memory, against Newcastle which also went completely unpunished. There must be something particularly inviting about that part of his anatomy.
Excellent report of a game I didn’t see. KLM’s in flight WiFi doesn’t stretch to PL coverage unfortunately. I’m delighted that we took three points from this one. Doing so in recent times hasn’t been easy.
NLFE
Oh how I laughed at Silva’s post match less-than-Imperial Blather, complaining at the referee. Still, the Vim with which we have started the season shows that this Arsenal team in no Flash in the pan.
Butler, prepare my Parka…
If Carling made football weekends …..
@13 yeah, it is even better than usual to be a Gooner C100 😄
Thanks for all the kind words and additional puns as usual gents. Sadly I didn’t tumble to
the fairly obvious penalty decision as shown by Trev @3
When you’re wrong, you’re wrong 🤦♂️
You need to dry harder, Matt.
The ‘ pundits’ switch very quickly . A few weeks ago Liverpool continually got out of jail with late goals after questionable performances. Now they get the late equaliser but then concede again . It’s happened in the last three league games .
Their defence looks very shaky . Kerkes hasn’t settled at all. The back up keeper made several rickets today. Van Dijk was regularly baling out Konate, today it was the other way around and Wirtz and Isak who cost a total of about £250 million haven’t settled yet . Ekitike who does look good isn’t starting . We also have a three point lead over a team who some itk journos believe will get the result of the panel hearing into the 130 charges before the next international break- I remain sceptical on that one .
The Martinelli goal against them was a huge moment .
TTG@16: They do indeed. We don’t seem to be hearing the ‘might as well give Liverpool the trophy now’ line any more.
Cheers Matt! I never got that thing, Ned @ 17: they were quite clearly riding their luck, with no particular sign that they were actually playing themselves into form during that run. That overhype based more on last season that these few results was bizarre.
I mean when we started so well after the Invincibles season before Riley derailed us, there was the hype too, but it was actually still based on incredible performances.
So back to ‘normal’, i.e. fighting against 115 who shape up to be our biggest rival. Still think we’ll prevail this season, so fingers crossed.
It seems Arsenal are quite good at teaching players how to defend. Jakob Kiwior has now kept 8 consecutive clean sheets for Porto and Poland. Good on him. He did a great job for us when Gabriel suffered his long term injury.
One-Nil to the Arsenal
One-Nil to the Arsenal
One-Nil to the Arsenal
One-Nil to the Arsenal …
After the interlull winning works for me. Before interlull winning also works for me, min you. The only time it seems pointless to win is during an interlull. But it’s good to have retained our momentum post-interlull in this case and long may it continue.
The GHF Predictathon Leaderboard for Matchweek 8 has been posted. A couple of spectacular moves this week — one upwards, one in the other direction. You know where to find it…
@15 😄
@20 absolutely!
@22 I will nervously check now Ned
Oh well, worst things happen at sea etc etc
OM@24: I’m treading more water than you are!
Thanks you Matt for a very enjoyable review of a match that was decidedly not so.
We should find ways to get Calafiori more in and around penalty box. Not only he has a good technique on his left foot, he also has that unteachable instinct of choosing the right moment to attempt goalbound efforts.
Leno was always an excellent shot-stopper (that double save against the Spuds was one of the best I have seen) and if not he denied Viktor twice, and if not for that inexplicable VAR-reversing of a very clear penalty, we could have scored at least one more goal which would have been likely a truer reflection of the game.
Loved big Gabriel’s glancing header assist. Those who comment negatively about Arsenal’s prolific corner routines should take some time to appreciate both the construction and the execution of that corner.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>