Arsenal couldn’t have had a worse staert against Fulham. Andreas Pereira swiftly gave Fulham an early lead within the opening minute after an awful error, first by Saka’s back pass and then Ramsdale not being in position.
However, our team exhibited greater energy but just couldn’t find the net. A potential game-changer emerged when Martin Odegaard struck a powerful shot from outside the box, seemingly scoring. Yet, an offside call was made on Kai Havertz, who had initially broken through the defense. Regrettably, VAR turned us down.
Despite entering halftime trailing, our optimism was fueled by the numerous opportunities we were generating. At the break, Leandro Trossard was substituted with Eddie Nketiah. However, it was the alterations made 10 minutes later — Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira replacing Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz — that truly impacted the match.
In the 70th minute, the Portuguese midfielder drew a foul from Tete in the box, and we finally equalized through a Bukayo Saka penalty. Moments later, Eddie Nketiah connected with an exceptional cross from Fabio Vieira, propelling us into the lead.
Nevertheless, Joao Palhinha secured an equalizer for the visiting team just before the whistle, despite being down to 10 players due to a second yellow card shown to Calvin Bassey.
All-in-all, a very disappointing way to lose two points at home.
Here are the highlights…..
Amidst the doom and gloom at the loss of two points the fact that young Vieira finally announced his arrival was very pleasing.How pleasant to see a left footed player,operating on the left wing, running and crossing with his left foot to cause havoc for the opposition defence.No inversions needed ,a throwback to the simple tactics of yesteryear which could be as effective today as they were decades ago..You never know this might catch on and perhaps our Manager will give Vieira another opportunity to prove what he can do as a conventional left winger?
Viera did much more in 10 mins than Martinelli did the whole game. Awful crossing from Martinelli.
Need to get more crosses into the box, Teirney and Viera to provide crosses for Havertz and Nkeita to flourish more. Arsenal are too predictable and easy to defend against. Need to mix it up with crosses, longballs as well as just allowing incoming wingers taking on defenders.
This stalemate against Fulham may have come at the perfect time.