Fulham     1    -     0    Arsenal
Hengeland  21′

Can Arsenal dig out a scrappy results when needed? It seems not, their performance lacked any penetration, and Fulham displayed excellent persistence throughout the whole match, cutting out passes, counter attacking and just pushing Arsenal back as and when they could. Fulham’s best player was their whole side, they all chipped in and put extra energy behind the game which led to their 1-0 victory.

A notable performance from Hengeland who won man of the match, his goal came from a corner which was whipped in from the left hand side by Danny Murphy, Hengeland easily got past his marker William Gallas to get his toe onto the ball and passed Almunia. Overall it was very poor marking as we have come to expect from Arsenal

Van Persie was the big disappointment today, he is usually devastating on the ball but his passing was poor and he failed to hit the target once in four close range free kicks. Nasri and Eboue played well but Arsenal overall were very poor in passing and no conviction in front of goal. They are really missing Cesc Fabregas and definitely need a solid central midfielder to partner him, Denilson just doesn’t seem fit for this team.

Overall this is a great result for Fulham, though unfortunately it does look like they will have to battle relegation this season as there are too many good teams out there. However, if Arsenal really want to mount a challenge for the title they really can’t afford a slow start so they will have to up their game for next match, and hopefully make the signings they want.