Arsenal take early title race blow after sloppy draw with ten-man Fulham as Joao Palhinha stars

Arsenal 2-2 Fulham (Saka p 70′, Nketiah 72’| Pereira 1′, Palhinha 87)

EMIRATES STADIUM — A late Joao Palhinha goal meant a sloppy Arsenal could only draw with ten-man Fulham on a stormy afternoon in north London.  

Palhinha, starting for the first time this season after recovering from an achilles strain, produced a virtuoso performance from defensive midfield before latching onto an 87th-minute Harrison Reed cross to dampen the spirits of a temporarily raucous Emirates.

Bukayo Saka’s penalty and Eddie Nketiah’s tap-in, followed by Calvin Bassey’s second yellow card, appeared to ensure Arsenal would continue their perfect Premier League start, but Palhinha and Fulham had other ideas.

Arsenal started without Gabriel for the third game in a row, with Jakub Kiwior replacing the suspended Takehiro Tomiyasu. This was the first time Kiwior had started a competitive game alongside William Saliba and Ben White, in a defensive system Arsenal still seem far from comfortable with.

This tactical dissonance was exposed within 57 seconds, the third time Arsenal have conceded a first-minute goal in the past six months, now a common enough occurrence to be considered a trend. Saka’s utterly mindless backpass to no-one in fact found Andreas Pereira, who took advantage of Aaron Ramsdale being nowhere to pass the ball into an empty net.

For the next 44 minutes and three seconds, Arsenal’s decision-making scarcely improved. Kai Havertz missed multiple Saka-produced good chances, while Gabriel Martinelli drably curled all three of the Gunners’ first-half shots on target at Bernd Leno. Largely operating as a four-man frontline, Martinelli, Havertz, Saka and Leandro Trossard all struggled to take advantage of the space Fulham’s backline provided them.

Ben White, caught out of position for Pereira’s goal, looked at points somewhere between deeply uncomfortably and genuinely concussed. Tasked with clearing a dangerous ball in his own penalty area, he instead headed it two yards in the path of Raul Jimenez, who was so surprised he could only flash his bicycle kick wide. Not long after, he drilled a long pass to Issa Diop, who had no Arsenal player within 10 yards of him in any direction. Not quite sure whether he was a right-back or a centre-back, he sometimes opted to be neither.

Yet changes after the break seemed to settle Arsenal’s stomachs and disrupt Fulham’s. Nketiah, Fabio Vieira and Oleksandr Zinchenko were all introduced by the 52nd minute, with the first two proving vital as Mikel Arteta’s side rapidly reasserted themselves onto the Emirates turf.

Twisting and twirling down the left and into the penalty area, Vieira was the victim of an ugly hack by Kenny Tete, who aimed for the ball but could only find his man. After a delay as Saka and referee Paul Tierney appeared to disagree over what constituted a penalty spot, Arsenal’s talisman stroked his spot-kick to Bernd Leno’s left as the German dived right.

And within two minutes, Vieira again created space on the left, rushing forward on the counter-attack before deftly finding Nketiah in the six-yard box. This was Nketiah’s 15th goal in 17 appearances at the Emirates as Arsenal’s second-choice striker continues to stake his claim for Gabriel Jesus’s starting spot.

Peace appeared to have been restored in north London after Calvin Bassey, making his full debut for the Cottagers, picked up a second yellow card for a cheap foul on Nketiah. The home fans, seemingly paralysed by fear in the first half, had once more found their voices, and their side’s early title ambitions appeared to be safe.

Yet Palhinha’s stolen finish and some exceptional late Leno saves, in particular from a Vieira curler at the death, sent Fulham fans into raptures and silenced the Emirates.

Arsenal will consider this two vital lost points in their pursuit of Manchester City and the Premier League title, even at this stage, while Fulham can take great optimism after the demoralising horror of last weekend’s Brentford defeat.



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