Arsenal missed the chance to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool after a 1-1 draw with London rivals Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Premier League
Result: Fulham 1-1 Arsenal
Date: 08 December 2024
Venue: Craven Cottage
The Gunners made two changes from the win over Manchester United on Wednesday, with Jorginho and Leandro Trossard coming in for Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Martinelli.
It was the home side who got the breakthrough with their first attack of the day as Tete's long ball released Raul Jimenez, who surged forward before rifling the ball beyond goalkeeper David Raya.
The Gunners took control of possession thereafter but they struggled to break down a Fulham side, who were quite happy to sit back and soak up the pressure for the opening 30 minutes of the contest.
Mikel Arteta's charges had to wait until the 37th minute for a clear-cut opening as Bukayo Saka managed to skip past two defenders before unleashing a low strike that forced goalkeeper Bernd Leno to parry.
After a disappointing first half, the Gunners got back on level terms in the 52nd minute as the dominance from corners continued as Kai Havert nodded the ball back into the path of William Saliba, who tapped home.
The Gunners should have been ahead on 70 minutes from another corner situation as Thomas Partey got on the end of Declan Rice's delivery but the Ghanaian somehow sent his header wide of the target at the far post.
Both managers opted for a change with ten minutes left on the clock as the Gunners introduced young Ethan Nwaneri for Martin Odegaard while Fulham withdraw scorer Jimenez for Rodrigo Muniz in a like-for-like switch.
The visitors thought they had popped up with the winning goal on 88 minutes as Martinelli did well to pick out Saka, who head home but the goal was ruled out by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the build up.
