{"id":6555,"date":"2022-08-28T10:05:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T09:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6555"},"modified":"2022-08-30T18:27:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T17:27:39","slug":"the-procession-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6555","title":{"rendered":"The Procession Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1418535921\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:76.26263% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1418535921?et=ucc6MAXqTJ9gBMgrN4tkig&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=N2HiaJpjXGWSY67J4fLhgNkht9wQZDh7MP0XDXZC9VI=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"453\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal continued their perfect start to the season, coming from behind late on to break Fulham hearts. It wasn\u2019t our most fluid performance of the season although we were still very much the better side. Arteta was forced into making two changes with both Zinchenko and Partey missing out with late injuries. To what extent remains unclear but hopefully its nothing too serious. Tierney and Elneny were the two players drafted into the firing line against the Cottagers. Former Gunner Bernd Leno started in goal for the visitors, and he received a warm reception from the Arsenal fans having spent four years in North London, serving the club well with his fantastic shot stopping abilities on a regular basis. It is only right that a goalkeeper of his calibre ought to be starting week in week out, so I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone in being pleased for the German.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first half was a relatively low-key affair with chances few and far between. But most of those few chances fell Arsenal\u2019s way. Granit Xhaka volleyed well wide from a Jesus pass after exceptional work from \u00d8degaard in the build-up. Martinelli almost scored direct from a corner as he clipped the bar with Leno stranded.&nbsp;&nbsp;There was a lot of possession but there wasn\u2019t the same level of spark as we\u2019ve seen in games recently. Saka had an effort that was saved by Leno after more good build up play but for the first time this season, we failed to take in a lead at half time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second half began with Arsenal upping the tempo somewhat. \u00d8degaard saw his stinging drive palmed away by Leno and Jes\u00fas also had an effort well saved. But then we gifted Fulham an opener as Gabriel dawdled on the ball on the edge of the penalty area, Mitrovic did superbly to steal possession and the Serb did even better to steer the ball past Ramsdale into the net. The Fulham fans were sent into ecstasy in the away end. 0-1 Fulham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But just like we did against Leicester in the last home game, we responded quickly. Saliba played a progressive ball to Saka who drove forward, feeding \u00d8degaard who quickly shifted the ball onto his left side and his deflected shot bamboozled Leno as the ball nestled into the back of the net. Sixty thousand Gooners breathed a collective sigh of relief. 1-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fulham nearly restored their lead straight away as Mitrovic\u2019s firm header from a corner was brilliantly saved by England\u2019s number one.&nbsp;&nbsp;But just when it looked like Arsenal would have to settle for a point, they found a late winner. We got a corner on the left-hand side which was sent in by Martinelli. Leno came out to claim the ball and completely missed it, as the ball found its way to Gabriel who simply couldn\u2019t miss as he prodded home from three yards out. The Emirates was sent into pandemonium. \u201cLimbs\u201d as my generation would have it. I have to say, it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve seen the Emirates celebrate a goal quite like that. Obviously, the nature of the game and the timing of the goal played a part in the huge celebrations but the noise when it went in was deafening. Over the last year the Ashburton Army has done a great job in transforming the Emirates into a much more atmospheric venue and it really does improve the match going experience. Hats off to those guys.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>VAR did have a look at that goal to see if they could find some obscure reason to disallow it; perhaps Gabriel\u2019s hair follicle was a millimetre offside. But the goal stood! There was one more hairy moment near the end where Chalobah got on the end of a Fulham free kick, but his header was again expertly saved by Ramsdale. But that was that and Arsenal made it four wins out of four for the first time since 2004. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We remain two points clear of several clubs on ten points including the champions. We also remain the only side in the league with a 100% record! Will we fail to win a game ever again? I doubt it. I expect us to finish with thirty-eight wins out of thirty-eight the way things are going. Our next victims will be Aston Villa on Wednesday night also at home. My condolences in advance to them. Now if we can just keep it together for the final thirty-four games\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Arsenal continued their perfect start to the season, coming from behind late on to break Fulham hearts. It wasn\u2019t our most fluid performance of the season although we were still very much the better side. Arteta was forced into making two changes with both Zinchenko and Partey missing out with late [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6555"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6566,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6555\/revisions\/6566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}