Arsenal shared spoils with Fulham at Emirates as Paulinha’s late strike salvaged a point for the Cottagers.
Starting Lineup
Arsenal: Aaron Ramsdale; Thomas Partey, Ben White, William Saliba, Jakub Kiwior; Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli.
Fulham: Bernd Leno; Kenny Tete, Issa Diop, Calvin Bassey, Antonee Robinson; Sasa Lukic, Joeo Palhinha, Andreas Pereira; Harry Wilson, Raul Jimenez, Bobby De Cordova-Reid
It was a poor start for the Gunners, who hoped to consolidate on their two winning start to the season.
Fulham netted one of their fastest goals in the Premier League history. Pereira latched on Saka’s mistake and fired a rocket pass Aaron Ramsdale to give Fulham the lead just a minute into the game.
Arsenal forced the game on the visitors after conceding the early goal, trying to find an equaliser.
Their first clear chance came in the 11th minute when Saka attempted to feed a cross to Kai Havertz but Havert was marked out by Diop. Just a touch of the ball would have landed the Gunners the equaliser.
Arsenal came close again in the 18th minute when Martinelli nearly netted Arsenal’s opener but his attempt fell perfectly for Leno.
Arsenal continued to dominate proceedings going forward but could not find the back of the net.
Fulham sat back to defend while leveraging on fast-paced counter to threaten the home side. Arsenal finally scored the equaliser in the 44th minute with Martin Odegaard’s strike but the goal was ruled off after Kai Havertz was deemed offside.
Arsenal had enough possession of the ball but battled effortlessly to break down Fulham’s solid line defence.
The visitors soaked up the pressure and went into the first half break with the narrow 1-0 lead.
Arsenal were still top of proceedings in the second half. The Gunners ramped up pressure to find an early equaliser with the last 45 minutes of the game left.
Arteta brought off Leandro Trossard at half time with Eddie Nketiah coming on as the Spaniard tried to chisel the game. Fulham continued to hold on to the lead while Arsenal’s pressure mounted.
Arteta made further substitutions, bringing off Thomas Partey for Oleksandr Zinchenko but could not overturn the game.
Saka was still deadly for the Gunners on the wings as Arsenal ramp up pressure but it was still a deadlock in Fulham’s half as the Marco Silva-led boys produced a strong defensive showing to tame the pressure and maintain the lead.
Fulham’s efforts on the back was soiled in the 67th minute when Tete slid down Vieira in the box and Arsenal were awarded a spot-kick.
Saka converted the spot-kick to nail home the equaliser. Two minutes after Arsenal’s equaliser, Eddie Nketiah put the Gunners ahead after volleying home Vieira’s cross pass Leno.
Fulham fought back into the game three minutes from stoppage-time. Paulinha stroke home a late cross from Reed to level the scores.
Arsenal made late push to take the lead all to no avail as Fulham held on to share spoils with the Gunners after the final whistle.
Video Highlights
