“He didn’t trackback on time for Fulham’s goal and he also wasted my assist in the 58th minutes of the game where he was in a scoring position”- Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard was furious at his ‘shaky’ teammate for costing them a much needed THREE points against Fulham on Sunday evening
“He didn’t trackback on time for Fulham’s goal and he also wasted my assist in the 58th minutes of the game where he was in a scoring position”- Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard was furious at his ‘shaky’ teammate for costing them a much needed THREE points against Fulham on Sunday evening
Yet another decisive weekend in the title race? Quite probably. While Liverpool had the Saturday off following Storm Darragh’s intervention, Arsenal had the opportunity to go within four points of the Reds.
Did the Gunners take that chance? Of course, they didn’t. Mikel Arteta’s men were made to rue their first dropped points since the last international break following what was a rather laboured display at Craven Cottage.
Raul Jimenez opened the scoring early on the clash before Arsenal fought back through yet more set-piece wizardry.
Without Gabriel, William Saliba has become the go-to man, now scoring in consecutive Premier League fixtures.
Truth be told, Fulham rarely threatened and it was Arsenal who dominated proceedings. A late winner looked to have arrived courtesy of Bukayo Saka, only for Gabriel Martinelli to be flagged for offside by VAR after bedlam had occurred in the away end.
So, on a day of negativity for Arsenal, were there any positives to take from the clash?
Arsenal’s best performers against Fulham
Saliba has been a man mountain since Arteta first named him on a Premier League team sheet over two years ago now.
He was a rock at the back once more against Fulham and was the man who gave Arsenal a route back into the game.
With Gabriel missing again through injury, the goalscoring burden has fallen on the shoulders of Saliba from set-pieces and he’s not let Nicolas Jover or Arteta down one bit.
While his goal against Manchester United a few days ago went in off his backside, this goal was rather more deliberate, sticking the ball home from a matter of yards out after Kai Havertz had nodded it into the Frenchman’s path.
Saliba wasn’t the only positive. After a monster performance against the Red Devils in midweek, Declan Rice was a surging forward from midfield once again.
His dead-ball delivery was inch-perfect on a number of occasions and he left the field having completed four of his seven crosses, three key passes and a 98% pass success rate overall. Not bad at all.
That said, who was the main man at fault in west London this weekend? It was arguably Jakub Kiwior.
Jakub Kiwior’s performance in numbers
Fear. That was the primary feeling among Arsenal supporters inside the Emirates last Wednesday. Gabriel was absent, as too was Riccardo Calafiori.
However, their deputies in Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko did a fine job of minimising the threat posed by Ruben Amorim’s team.
In that game, the Poland international was near flawless, leaving the field with an 85% pass success rate and a duel success rate of 80%, losing just one all night.
That same level of performance was not apparent in the away clash at Fulham with the former Spezia man at fault for the hosts’ only goal of the game.
Kenny Tete played a ball in behind the Arsenal defence which wasn’t cut out by Kiwior. It looked as though he was caught in two minds. The ball was there for the Pole to throw himself at and make an intervention or he could have backtracked sooner and stopped Jimenez from racing in behind.
Unfortunately, Kiwior was able to do neither and allowed the Mexican to dart away from the defence and fire past David Raya.
It has been a week that’s arguably summed up the 24-year-old’s time in north London. Inconsistent.
Handed a 5/10 rating by the Standard’s Simon Collings, it doesn’t make for great reading from a statistical point of view either. Kiwior may have completed 89% of his passes but he did not make a tackle, was dribbled past once and didn’t win a single ground duel either.
He will have better days, that’s for sure, but if Gabriel or Calafiori are fit when Arsenal take on Monaco in the Champions League they must return to the side.
