Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw against Fulham on Sunday afternoon after Bukayo Saka’s late header was ruled out courtesy of the video assistant referee.
Raul Jimenez gave Fulham the lead after 12 minutes, latching onto an assist from Kenny Tete before firing the ball past David Raya in the Arsenal goal. The visitors then struggled to break down the hosts during the first-half.
However, the momentum of the game changed in the second-half. First, Arsenal levelled the game courtesy of their reliable corner kick routines. This time, William Saliba latched onto a Kai Havertz header to fire past Bernd Leno. Then Arsenal looked to have won it, only for the late Saka goal to be ruled out due to Gabriel Martinelli being offside in the build-up.
Here, The Athletic’s Art de Roché and Michael Cox analyse the draw.
How much of a blow could late VAR decision be?
Arsenal have become well aware of the ‘small margins’ needed to be on their side to sustain title charges in recent years. Mikel Arteta often makes reference to these, with captain Martin Odegaard doing so in the summer.
The nature of both their equaliser and their disallowed winner coming down to such tight offside calls is somewhat representative of that.
Martinelli being caught offside before his excellent cross for Bukayo Saka will leave a sense of frustration on a weekend that presented a chance to make ground on Liverpool, whose match against Everton was postponed.
Saka after his goal was ruled out on Sunday (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Arne Slot’s side have a six-point advantage — at least until Chelsea play — with a game in hand. The draw, Arsenal’s fifth this season, puts them second and for now but Chelsea have the opportunity to leapfrog them with their match against Tottenham Hotspur later this evening.
Arsenal failed to beat Fulham across two games last season, which hamstrung their hopes. Despite doing enough to leave Craven Cottage with three points, this will feel like an opportunity missed.
Art de Roché
Arsenal corner dominance continues – but how far back does it stretch?
Much of the focus on Arsenal’s goals from corners has been on the last two seasons, but their dominance goes back further than then.
Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover joined Mikel Arteta’s coaching staff ahead of the 2021-22 season. Since then, they rank first for both set-piece goals (62 excluding penalties) and goals from corners (49).
Liverpool are closest to them in both areas with 57 set-piece goals and 41 from corners.
While Gabriel Magalhaes has garnered most of the attention for Arsenal’s set-piece goals, Thomas Partey was a target in Jover’s first season. He scored twice from corners that year, against Aston Villa and Leicester, and arguably should have done too this week.
Against Manchester United, he misjudged the flight of the ball to potentially put Arsenal ahead. This afternoon he was found unmarked at the back post only to head wide. So although Arsenal’s potency from set-pieces continues, they could still be more effective.
Art de Roché
Have Fulham found a route to goals against Arsenal?
Fulham would not have come into this match too concerned about Arsenal’s recent upturn in form. They were one of just two sides to stop Arsenal from winning last season, earning a draw at the Emirates and a win at Craven Cottage, and have been enjoying their joint-best start to a Premier League campaign this term.
Themes that helped them secure four points from six against Arsenal last year cropped up again this afternoon. They cut through Arsenal with channel balls throughout the opening 20 minutes last December, which led to them taking the lead through Raul Jimenez.
Although the ball came from their right rather than their left this time around, they managed to catch Arsenal out again to take the lead. The move was 23 passes long, with Emile Smith Rowe providing an important left-footed ball to Kenny Tete for his assist.
Jimenez celebrates Fulham’s opening goal (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Set-pieces have remained a major talking point after Arsenal’s two midweek goals from corners against Manchester United.
Marco Silva mentioned pre-match that Fulham scored from two set-pieces of their own to take points from Arsenal last season. With more defensive emphasis this time, they deployed a mostly zonal marking system but with one big difference in the first half. Adama Traore man-marked William Saliba, and arguably the best suited to do so in the league, which provided Fulham with more security than most. Failing to do so on the second phase of Arsenal’s first corner of the second half, however, left Saliba free to head in after Kai Havertz found him. Arsenal had already scored more goals from corners than any other side in the Premier League since the start of last season ahead of kick-off — that goal took their tally up to 23.
Art de Roché
Did the wind explain Arsenal’s change of fortunes?
Storm Darragh had a considerable impact on the Premier League this weekend, with Everton’s match against Liverpool postponed because of high winds and safety concerns. Things weren’t quite so blustery on Sunday, and down south. But the storm still impacted games, including this one at Craven Cottage.
With 18mph winds — and 42mph gusts — from a northernly direction, that made for a difficult situation here, on a pitch which is orientated in a north-south direction. And with Arsenal so dangerous from inswinging corners this season, and particularly against Manchester United in midweek, it made sense that they’d be more dangerous when kicking south, towards the Putney End, as they did in the second half.
Their attackers seemed to struggle to read first-half corners, which wobbled around a little unpredictably. But when kicking with the wind, they scored from their first second-half corner, with Rice’s inswinging delivery curling perfectly to Havertz, whose effort was turned home by Saliba. Havertz was credited with the assist, but maybe Darragh should get one too.
Michael Cox
Saliba scores the equaliser during Sunday’s game (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
What next for Arsenal?
Wednesday, December 11: Monaco (home), Champions League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
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(Top photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
