Sam Dalling was at the Emirates this evening. His report has landed. Thanks for reading this MBM!
A very happy Gabriel talks to Sky. “After the goal, my head was down. But my brothers said Gabi let’s go, and my head was up. When I scored, and they went to say handball, I just asked to God. Did you like my celebration?! I was so happy.”
His team-mate Martin Odegaard adds: “It was the team’s job to lift him up, and he showed great character to come back and score the winning goal. It showed the team spirit, we lifted him up and showed responsibility. We have to stay calm and win the next game.”
That’s sent Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League table. Their perfect start continues apace. They were made to work for that win, mind you, and though Fulham have lost their own unbeaten record, once the dust settles they’ll be satisfied with another fighting performance against one of the top-flight big boys.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| 2 | Man City | 4 | 8 | 10 |
| 10 | Newcastle | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 11 | Fulham | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 12 | Nottm Forest | 3 | -1 | 4 |
Mikel Arteta is delighted. He jumps around with a smile as wide and long as the Holloway Road. Everyone in red is in party mode. The fans belt out their paean to Saliba. The match-winner Gabriel isn’t best pleased with Saka, mind you, and issues his team-mate some beneficial advice in the trenchant style, presumably of the opinion that his egregious error for Fulham’s goal was a result of his being played into trouble. Life’s never perfect.
FULL TIME: Arsenal 2-1 Fulham
That is it! The whistle goes! Arsenal maintain their 100 percent record and return to the top of the Premier League. The home fans crack open the tequila.
90 min +7: Martinelli is down with cramp. Fulham don’t fancy kicking the ball out of play. A long ball’s pumped into the Arsenal box. Ramsdale claims. That’s surely it.
90 min +6: Xhaka hacks a loose ball miles upfield and out of play near Fulham’s right-wing corner flag. Classic rugby union kicking.
90 min +5: As Odegaard departs, Sky pundit Alan Smith names him as man of the match. Then the game restarts with a drop ball. Fulham win a throw deep down the right. Mbabu flings it in, but the referee blows for Chalobah’s idiotic tug on Tomiyasu.
90 min +4: Gabriel is back up and able to continue. Before the game restarts, Odegaard is replaced by Holding.
90 min +3: Time to catch up with that admin, then! Chalobah came on for Palhinha, while Stansfield replaced Ream.
Updated
90 min +2: De Cordova-Reid and Gabriel clash heads on the edge of the Arsenal box. Play stops as the Arsenal man, who has come off worst, receives attention.
90 min +1: The first of five added minutes flies by. The Emirates is bouncing. So is Marco Silva, who is unhappy about something, presumably the goal, and is yapping away at the assistant referee.
90 min: Reed swings a free kick towards Chalobah at the far post. The newly arrived Chalobah nearly sweeps his first touch into the bottom right, but Ramsdale parries brilliantly! This isn’t quite over yet!
89 min: Jesus is replaced by Tomiyasu. Meanwhile Chalobah and Stansfield come on for … we’ll get back to you about that, as Fulham win a free kick out on the right, and load the Arsenal box!
88 min: Such a scruffy goal, but Arsenal are heading back to the top of the Premier League!
87 min: VAR checks for a possible handball. Did it hit Gabriel’s elbow? But there’s nothing obvious going on, according to the operative, and the goal stands. Arsenal’s players celebrated the goal wildly; the fans give it plenty this time.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Fulham (Gabriel 86)
Gabriel makes up for his earlier howler! Martinelli curls to the near post. Leno flaps. Gabriel meets the dropping ball and bundles into the bottom-left corner from a couple of yards. Redemption!
Updated
85 min: Martinelli dances past Mbabu on the left and tries to surprise Leno at the near post. The keeper turns the ball around for a corner, and from that …
84 min: One corner leads to another, and Leno grabs the ball confidently. Fulham are hanging on now.
83 min: Odegaard wedges a pass down the inside-left channel. Nketiah chests down but can’t get a shot away from six yards. Fulham clear. The hosts come again, Martinelli curling fiercely from out on the left, his shot meant for the top right. Adarabioyo eyebrows out for a corner.
82 min: Gabriel slides a glorious pass down the left to release Martinelli, who cuts back for Nketiah. His shot flies straight at Leno. An inch either side, and that was ripping the net from its moorings.
81 min: Cairney dribbles out of a tight spot and makes off down the left. He’s got De Cordova-Reid free in acres down the middle, but doesn’t spot him and the chance is gone.
80 min: Jesus nearly releases Nketiah down the inside-left channel with a cute feathered reverse pass, but his team-mate can’t take the ball in his stride. Fulham clear their lines.
79 min: Fulham make a double change, swapping out Tete and Pereira for Mbabu and Diop.
78 min: Another Arsenal corner from the left. Martinelli blooters this one miles over everyone’s head and out of play for a goal kick.
77 min: Saka wins a corner down the left. Martinelli takes. Easy for Leno, who goes down in the modern style, to eat up a few precious seconds. Arsenal’s old number one cops some pantomime flak for his trouble.
76 min: … but there is still time, and Nketiah comes very close to finding the crucial second. He dribbles in from the right and whips towards the bottom left. Just wide.
75 min: A chance for Xhaka to either shoot from 25 yards or pick a pass. Instead he clanks the ball straight into the nearest Fulham player. Some frustrated yelps from the home crowd, with time beginning to run out for Arsenal to maintain their 100 percent record.
73 min: Martinelli busies himself down the inside-right channel, cuts infield, and tries to thread one into the bottom left. Easy meat for Leno.
72 min: Saliba is nearly closed down by the incessant Mitrovic, but evades Gabriel-style humiliation with a fancy shuffle to throw the striker off the scent. The crowd enjoyed that one. Tequilas all round!
70 min: Robinson crosses deep from the left. Mitrovic out jumps Gabriel at the far stick, but he can’t get a header on target. Arsenal clear, then De Cordova-Reid is booked for running his mouth off in the direction of the referee. Not sure what had vexed him so, but there it is.
69 min: Cairney comes on for Kebano.
68 min: Mitrovic flashes another header wide. Fulham look as likely to score a second as Arsenal do.
66 min: Fulham nearly retake the lead! De Cordova-Reid wins a corner down the right. Pereira sends in an outswinger. Mitrovic bullies Jesus out of the way and powers a header towards the bottom right. Ramsdale parries magnificently. De Cordova-Reid tries to tuck away the rebound, but his shot slams into White, throwing himself into the road in the style of John Terry. Fulham want a penalty – the ball hit White’s elbow – but come off it and come on.
65 min: There’s a fair chance that goal will be credited to Adarabioyo, you know. Not entirely sure Odegaard’s shot was on target. But that’s one for the committee.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Fulham (Odegaard 64)
A huge stroke of luck gets Arsenal back into the game! Saka drives down the inside-right channel and lays off to Odegaard, who looks to sidefoot into the bottom left. The ball takes a huge deflection off Adarabioyo’s hanging leg, and squeaks past Leno into the bottom right. The roof spirals off the Emirates. A huge roar!
Updated
63 min: Gabriel nearly ships another chance. With the option of playing the ball back to his keeper, the defender instead tries to play a reverse pass up the left wing. Mitrovic closes him down. The ball flies out for a goal kick. Lucky Gabriel.
62 min: Nketiah makes his presence felt down the right. The ball’s cut back to Martinelli on the edge of the box, but the Brazilian can’t get a shot away.
61 min: Mikel Arteta responds by replacing Tierney with Nketiah. Looks like Martinelli will be tasked to look after defensive duties on that flank, as Arsenal switch to a back three.
59 min: It wasn’t as though the goal came out of absolutely nowhere, either. Fulham have looked much more attack-minded since the break.
58 min: Your annual reminder that Fulham have never won at Arsenal. This isn’t just a Premier League only stat, either. Since the beginning of time.
GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Fulham (Mitrovic 56)
Oh Gabriel! This is a complete fiasco! Arsenal try to play out from the back. Saka, by the corner flag on the right, chips across to Gabriel, who takes a heavy touch. He doesn’t realise Mitrovic is there. Mitrovic steals in from behind, takes the ball off him, turns, holds the defender off, and slots into the bottom left. What magnificent opportunism. What woeful defending.
Updated
54 min: Odegaard backs himself from 25 yards, cutting in from the right and sending a swerver towards the top right. Leno parries, then claims the rebound. Arsenal quickly come again, Jesus attempting to steer a shot into the bottom right from 12 yards. Leno gets down to smother. That’s got the crowd going.
52 min: Robinson is booked for standing on Jesus’ foot on the right touchline. Arsenal’s resulting free kick is useless, and suddenly Kebano is scampering on the counter down the left, with Robinson free in the centre! But upon reaching the box, Kebano’s attempt to square the ball results in a slapstick fresh-air swipe. He falls to the ground, but the ball breaks to Mitrovic, who lines up a spectacular dipping shot from 30 yards. It’s always flying miles over the bar.
50 min: Action at both ends. Jesus crosses from the right. Leno plucks from the sky under pressure from Martinelli. Then Pereira probes down the Fulham left. His cross sails over Saliba and reaches a slightly surprised De Cordova-Reid, who sends a header over the bar from ten yards.
49 min: Mitrovic and Fulham take their sweet time to get themselves going again. The crowd issue the requisite pelters.
48 min: Saliba clips the back of Mitrovic’s heel. The referee stops short of a booking; just a talking-to. Mitrovic felt that, though, and requires some treatment. On comes the trainer.
47 min: Jesus and Saka probe down the right. The ball breaks to White, whose cross is deflected harmlessly into the arms of their erstwhile colleague Leno.
Arsenal, who enjoyed 74 percent of possession during that first half, get the second underway. No changes made by either side.
Half-time reading.
HALF TIME: Arsenal 0-0 Fulham
Arsenal have been the better side, but Fulham have stuck at it, frustrating the hosts. Towards the end of the half, Arsenal’s collective fuse began to shorten, then fizz, and Jesus walks off arguing with the referee. Mikel Arteta will need to calm everyone down, because Fulham will be more than happy to have seen the potential for a second-half disciplinary meltdown.
45 min: Tierney crosses from a deep position on the left. Jesus prepares to execute an overhead kick. Robinson whacks out for a corner just in time. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece.
44 min: Palhinha sticks out a leg to bring down Saka. A garden variety foul. Jesus comes over to instigate an argument, shoving Palhinha in the chest, albeit lightly. Things nearly kick off. Eventually the referee calms everyone down, and Palhinha and Jesus go into the book.
Updated
42 min: Palhinha robs Odegaard, who had taken a heavy touch. There’s contact between the pair, too, Odegaard bumped to the floor, but the referee waves play on. Huge roars of dissatisfaction. Fulham will be very pleased to hear them. Everyone associated with the Gunners getting a wee bit irritated right now.
41 min: Some patient Arsenal passing. Some very patient Arsenal passing.
39 min: More frustrated yelling as Fulham deal easily enough with Martinelli’s probing down the left, Mitrovic then buying a cheap free kick to release the pressure. Most folk in the Emirates will have expected their team to be ahead already, but here we are.
37 min: Mitrovic creams a diagonal pass towards Kebano on the left-hand touchline. Kebano takes it down brilliantly, then drives at White. He cuts back for Pereira, who larrups a dismal shot miles over the bar from the edge of the box. A few frustrated groans from the home fans during that move.
36 min: Robinson romps down the left and is clumsily brought down by White, who sweeps his legs from under him. The first booking of the evening.
34 min: Ream sticks a foot in to poke the ball away from Odegaard, only to accidentally play Saka clear down the inside-right channel! Saka sashays into the box and opens his body, looking to sidefoot into the left-hand corner, but Leno makes himself big to block. A huge chance. Ream breathes again.
Updated
32 min: Scrub that. Martinelli wastes the opportunity by hoicking a dreadful free kick over everyone in the crowded box and harmlessly wide and high.
31 min: Adarabioyo crudely clanks into Jesus, and it’s a free kick just to the left of the Fulham box. Danger here.
30 min: Kebano crosses from the left. De Cordova-Reid stoops to meet with a header, but can’t direct it on target.
29 min: Martinelli’s corner from the left ends up on the top of the Bournemouth net. A little lower and that might – stress might – have squeaked over Leno and into the top-right corner.
28 min: Jesus and Martinelli exchange passes down the inside left. Jesus breaks into the box, after Martinello’s looped ball, and is about to shoot when Ream comes across to block out for a corner.
27 min: Jesus crosses deep from the left. Saka rises above Ream at the far stick, but there’s nobody rushing in to take advantage of his downward header. Fulham clear.
25 min: Mitrovic really took that ball flush in the mush. But he’s a strong lad, and soon up and about again.
24 min: A free kick for Fulham just inside the Arsenal half. Reed floats it into the box. Ramsdale claims, then tries to send a drop kick upfield. His flat delivery smacks the nearby Mitrovic square in the jaw, and the big man goes down. The game pauses as Ramsdale checks on the guy he’s accidentally flattened.
22 min: Odegaard, quarterbacking from deep, sends Jesus away down the right. Jesus rolls inside for Saka. Yet another one-two between Saka and Odegaard looks to have released the former into the box, but just as he’s about to shoot from the penalty spot, Adarabioyo sticks a toe in to block and clear. That’s fine last-ditch defending … though an Arsenal opener looks merely a matter of time.
20 min: Xhaka crosses low from the left. Jesus is waiting to tap in, six yards out, but Leno has anticipated the danger and smothers the ball.
18 min: Gabriel pounces on a loose ball 30 yards out, and nearly releases Martinelli down the middle. De Cordova-Reid covers to clear for a corner that’s cleared. It’s beginning to feel like Fulham are hanging on, with Arsenal utterly dominant, though Leno has yet to be forced into serious action.
17 min: Arsenal are first to everything at the moment, and are beginning to impose their superiority. Odegaard is at the heart of most of it. Another one-two with Saka nearly comes off on the edge of the Fulham box.
15 min: Saka breezes past Palhinha and feeds Jesus down the left. Jesus tries to return the favour with a low cross, but Saka is crowded out. Fulham clear, but Arsenal come straight back at them, Odegaard crossing deep from the right, Jesus cushioning the ball on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, then teeing up Xhaka who opens his body and attempts to guide a first-time effort into the top right. Always wide, always high. Lovely move, though.
13 min: Saka bustles into the Fulham box from the right and exchanges crisp passes with Odegaard. He then goes over and makes a half-hearted claim for a penalty, having come together with Pereira, but the referee shows no interest whatsoever.
11 min: The first lull of the evening. Hey, it’s sunny and warm.
Updated
9 min: Some space for De Cordova-Reid out on the right. He dribbles into the Arsenal box and wins Fulham their first corner. From the set piece, Palhinha sweeps a first-time shot wide and high from ten yards.
8 min: Adarabioyo gives the ball away cheaply again. Arsenal do nothing with it, but Fulham’s central defenders have both had a shaky start.
6 min: Ream comes through the back of Jesus and is fortunate not to go into the book. A bit later in the game and that was surely a yellow card. In other words, it should have been a yellow card.
4 min: Odegaard nicks the ball off Adarabioyo, turns and nearly releases Saka with a cute pass down the inside right. Too much juice on the ball, and it runs harmlessly though to Leno.
Updated
3 min: Mitrovic spins down the right and swings a speculative ball into the middle for Kebano. White comes over to intercept, just as Kebano was thinking about skittering clear, though his first touch was a bit clumsy. On another day, that might have teed up Kebano to tear off with the ball.
2 min: Xhaka battles as Xhaka does, and wins the first corner of the match within 40 seconds. Martinelli and Jesus take it short, overplay, and Fulham clear their lines.
A minute’s applause in memory of Arsenal head groundsman Steve Braddock, who died earlier this week. Then Fulham get the ball rolling.
We’ll be wearing black armbands today in memory of our head groundsman Steve Braddock, who sadly passed away this week aged 58 🙏
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 20, 2022
RIP Steve ❤️ pic.twitter.com/N9xkAZ7qAH
The teams are out! Arsenal are in their red shirts with white sleeves, while Fulham wear their first-choice white with black trim. We’ve already had 22 goals in the Premier League today. Some more coming right up? We’ll find out soon enough. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes. “What are the limits of my ambition today as a Fulham supporter?” wonders Richard Hirst. “Optimistically, Leno to play a blinder against his old club, save a penalty and we scrape a 0-0 draw; more realistically, to avoid a Bournemouth.”
Mikel Arteta speaks to Sky Sports ahead of his 100th game as a Premier League manager. “I am very honoured and privileged to have a century at the club. Let’s move forward. We are competing in every game and obviously we need to carry on. It is only three games.”
His opposite number Marco Silva adds: “Mitrovic is one piece of our puzzle. I know what I can get from him, and if we can deliver for him he can decide matches for us. But he is more than just a goalscorer, he helps us without the ball, and to link our offensive game.”
Pre-match jitters, courtesy of Charles Antaki. “The Gunners will reclaim pole position with a win tonight: a perfectly normal use of the indicative present tense to refer to the future, but one to give Arsenal fans the heebie-jeebies, what with jinxes in mind, and it now seeming to be Arsenal’s turn at being the next club-in-crisis.” I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Charles. You’ll not get hold of that Crisis Baton tonight even if your lads ship a three-goal lead. Brendan Rodgers has your back.
Arsenal are no longer top of the Premier League. That’s a result of the 3pm action, which saw Manchester City come back from two down to beat Crystal Palace 4-2, and Brighton pip Leeds 1-0 at the Amex. It was one hell of an afternoon, with ten-man Chelsea beating new crisis club Leicester, Brentford and Everton drawing 1-1 in west London, and Liverpool equalling a Premier League record by thrashing Bournemouth 9-0. The Gunners will reclaim pole position with a win tonight.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 4 | 8 | 10 |
| 2 | Brighton | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 5 | Leeds | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 4 | -1 | 7 |
| 7 | Man Utd | 4 | -3 | 6 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 4 | 8 | 5 |
| 9 | Brentford | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 10 | Newcastle | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 11 | Fulham | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 12 | Nottm Forest | 3 | -1 | 4 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace | 4 | -2 | 4 |
| 14 | Southampton | 4 | -3 | 4 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 3 | -3 | 3 |
| 16 | AFC Bournemouth | 4 | -14 | 3 |
| 17 | Everton | 4 | -2 | 2 |
| 18 | Wolverhampton | 3 | -2 | 1 |
| 19 | Leicester | 4 | -4 | 1 |
| 20 | West Ham | 3 | -5 | 0 |
Arsenal make two changes to the XI sent out for the 3-0 win at Bournemouth. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey are missing; Kieran Tierney and Mohamed Elneny make their first starts of the season.
Fulham make one change from the team that beat Brentford 3-2 at Craven Cottage last weekend. Neeskens Kebano replaces Jay Stansfield, who drops to the bench.
Updated
The teams
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney, Elneny, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus.
Subs: Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Holding, Cedric, Tomiyasu, Vieira, Sambi Lokonga, Alencar, Turner.
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Adarabioyo, Ream, Antonee Robinson, Reed, Joao Palhinha, Kebano, Andreas Pereira, Reid, Mitrovic.
Subs: Rodak, Duffy, Cairney, Chalobah, Mbabu, Diop, Francois, Harris, Stansfield.
Referee: Jarred Gillett.
Preamble
Both of these teams go into one of the more polite London derbies flying. Arsenal are the only Premier League team with a 100 percent record, top of the tree after matchday three, while Fulham are unbeaten, no mean feat for any newly promoted side. Arsenal are hot favourites to condemn the Cottagers to defeat for the first time in this campaign, and they’ve never, ever, ever lost to them at home. With Gabriel Jesus flying, lump on, lump on.
But records are there to be broken. Fulham were a couple of minutes away from breaking their Highbury-Emirates duck in 2021, only for Eddie Nketiah to equalise in injury time. Meanwhile last week’s 3-2 home victory over Brentford broke a run of 24 Premier League matches without a London-derby win. Marco Silva has beaten Arsenal with three other clubs – Olympiacos, Watford and Everton – and if Jesus is on top of his game, then Aleksandar Mitrovic’s form isn’t too shabby either. Can Arsenal make it four wins out of four? Or will Fulham’s confident start to the season continue apace? Kick off is at 5.30pm. It’s on!
