Premier League - Fulham impress as Arsenal draw

Eurosport - Sun, 01 Mar 09:36:00 2009

Fulham held Arsenal to a fourth consecutive goalless Premier League draw in an entertaining clash at the Emirates.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Fulham Arsenal-Fulham Johnson Clichy - 0

Arsenal left the pitch to jeers after a clash that was enjoyable for neutrals but frustrating for partisans, although Fulham fans will have been impressed by their side's organisation and passing.

The hosts had the better chances but both sides could have won a game characterised by slick play from both teams and stout defending by Fulham in particular.

The first half somehow remained goalless despite a frantic pace and attacking attitude from both sides that saw chances traded at will.

Andy Johnson (pictured to the left of Gael Clichy) fired just wide in the second minute, while Samir Nasri went straight down the other end to do likewise.

Johnson had another chance five minutes later but again he sent the ball just beyond the post after a good turn on the edge of the box.

In keeping with the theme of the game, the Gunners hit back and on 10 minutes Robin van Persie forced a superb point-blank save from Mark Schwarzer with a bullet header from Andrei Arshavin's right-wing cross.

Both sides play good football and the end-to-end nature of the match continued with Nasri and Van Persie dilly-dallying for Arsenal when they should have scored, while Danny Murphy, Bobby Zamora and Simon Davies went close for Fulham.

The second half began with Arsenal by far the dominant force.

Nasri had a near-post shot blocked wide after more great work from Arshavin, Van Persie headed over from the subsequent corner and Arshavin had a volley of his own blocked.

The best chance of the game fell to Van Persie on the hour mark when Fulham failed to clear a corner and the ball popped up for Bacary Sagna on the right.

The right-back played an excellent cross to the edge of the six-yard box where Dutch striker Van Persie rose unmarked to flick an angled header past Schwarzer but on to the post.

Fulham had been under the cosh for the first quarter-hour of the second half but after that escape they regained confidence and should have scored themselves.

A 10-minute spell of possession saw Davies, Clint Dempsey and Zamora go close, while Johnson had two superb chances to put his side in front.

The first came when he mis-controlled Davies's ball, which had put him one-on-one with Manuel Almunia.

Then he somehow headed Fredrik Stoor's excellent cross wide after a hypnotic spell of passing from the Whites.

Arsene Wenger realised his side were close to throwing the match away, so brought on Nicklas Bendtner for the anonymous Carlos Vela.

The Dane had an immediate impact, creating chances for Van Persie and Arshavin, while Abou Diaby's header from Nasri's 73rd-minute corner forced a close-range, reflex stop from Schwarzer's legs.

Emmanuel Eboue was inexplicably brought on for the impressive Sagna and quickly showed his lack of composure when he thrashed the ball out for a throw after being put through on the right.

The pendulum then swung Fulham's way, with several waves of attacks culminating in Zamora muscling through the home defence and firing wide.

Arshavin - Arsenal's best player on the day - was denied by another diving stop from Schwarzer and the latter stages saw Fulham keep the ball well.

A lengthy period of stoppage time irked Fulham boss Roy Hodgson as Arsenal threw the kitchen sink at his team but the North London side were blunt in attack as this season's surprise package held on for a point.

Arsenal now lie only two points ahead of sixth-placed Everton, while Fulham closed to within a point of seventh-placed Wigan, who have played one game more than the West Londoners.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 78 - 97 of 97

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  1. I SUPPORT ARSENAL BUT I WANT THEM TO KEEP LOSING UNTIL­ WENGER RESIGNS!

    From Joseph, on Tue 3 Mar 12:40PM

  2. Arsene who? Bring on the trumpets cos thats all the­ noise your gonna hear at the emirates!
    Au revoir­ Arsene, go and strangle another club we have had enough­ of you. The only success you ever had was due to­ inherited players and players that were out of sorts­ that you bought cheap. Veira, Petit, Overmars, Henry­ you would never have bought if they were sold at their­ correct prices. GET OUT OF OUR CLUB­ NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    you offered 4 milion for­ Ronaldo and man u offered 12, how disgusting is that!!­ who are you kidding with these kids, every club has­ good and bad youths but your the idiot that believes­ you have 22 good ones. GET OUT OF OUR CLUB GO GO GO GO­ GO!!!!

    From Joseph, on Tue 3 Mar 12:34PM

  3. Will the real Gunners of London please come forward. I­ haven't seen them since 2005.

    From shane, on Mon 2 Mar 11:21AM

  4. Just I can't understand what is happening to our­ Arsenal. May be a seroius changes to be done in some­ crucial areas such as in the policy, coaching approach,­ the players approach, the believes, the tactics, and­ finally the shake ups in the directorates.

    From Ojara Lakwotism M, on Mon 2 Mar 7:45AM

  5. in Arsene Wenger we trust!!!

    From James, on Sun 1 Mar 9:15PM

  6. MAY ALLAH SOLVE THIS AT START AGAINST WESTBROM TO WIN 7­ TO NOTHING, I HOPE ARSENAL MAKE THE LINE UP WITH­ WILSHERE HE CAN BRING A LITTLE CHANGE INSTEAD OF VELA.

    From aishat.abba, on Sun 1 Mar 11:48AM

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    From WWW.PREMIERSHIP.ALTERVISTA.ORG, on Sun 1 Mar 11:27AM

  8. Watch out and you will see the new Arsenal wining their­ match's even the CL, Guunnnnneeeerrrssss for life.

    From ancolink1, on Sun 1 Mar 11:25AM

  9. My follow fans what Arsenal need is a serious­ deliverance and that i have done

    From ancolink1, on Sun 1 Mar 11:23AM

  10. Today i deliver Arsenal from every hard luck in Jesus­ name Amen.

    From ancolink1, on Sun 1 Mar 11:22AM

  11. and to all the spurs fans on here its not like you can­ make comments slagging the gunners off look at were you­ are this season at least the gunners are in the top 5­ not fighting to be safe from relegation

    From alan, on Sun 1 Mar 11:21AM

  12. comment 71 i support liverpool and cant understand why­ you are saying you dont need van persie are you stupid­ the bloke is a match winner for you with him full fired­ up on the pitch he is your best player , you need to­ stop moaning some of your best players are out injuried­ , you need to decide what you want do you want stylish­ football like your team play or boring football

    From alan, on Sun 1 Mar 11:18AM

  13. your s h i t and u no u are your s h i t and u no u are­ yid army

    From Spurs..xx, on Sun 1 Mar 10:55AM

  14. I think wenger has lost the plot. we all keep­ complaining about our strikers not scoring forgetting­ that the main problem is the static midfield. denilson,­ abou diaby and song in the middle are so flat, they can­ cannot split a defence with a pass let alone take on­ players in the middle of the pitch to create space for­ other attacking players to move into. the whole wenger­ experiment is a shambles and its time for him to­ realise this than those flimsy excuses hes been­ offering.
    enough of the posting of profits and more of­ proper football business, afterall the club is not­ called arsenal bank but arsenal football club. we need­ a massive shake in the club from the very top through­ wenger and down to underperforming players.

    From ajohnnyenzo, on Sun 1 Mar 10:40AM

  15. I'm afraid the wheels are coming off the Wenger­ experiment this season. It WILL be a disaster if we­ don't get into europe not only financially but for­ our dignity. Time perhaps for Weger to move upstairs­ and maybe we can try to poach O'Neil before Man U­ secure his services in a season or two. Wenger has been­ a legend for arsenal and he still has a huge role to­ play but the premiership is changing dramatically and­ Wenger will not change with it.

    From marcusoaticus, on Sun 1 Mar 9:41AM

  16. the fact is that we should try and win all remaining­ league matches and pray to win a trophy this­ season.wenger is a great coach but should bring in more­ experienced players into his team. he must win more­ games to challenge for any trophy. we are tired of all­ the excuses of building a team and the young arsenal­ team stuff, for God's sake a great coach is­ appraised by the number of trophies he wins. wenger has­ to sit up and spend some of the money we've been­ saving over the years or else the emirates will start­ having empty seats at every match day.

    From ofole, on Sun 1 Mar 9:39AM

  17. booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...­ . arsenal draw again... i dissapointed

    From hfeezz_14, on Sun 1 Mar 9:33AM

  18. I have been a Gooner for 50 years and this has to be­ the worst team that I can remember, is it time A. W.­ left I ask you all.

    From tandsg1, on Sun 1 Mar 9:25AM

  19. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU­ UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU­ UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ARSENAL

    From maca, on Sun 1 Mar 8:35AM

  20. arsen venger
    he spent none of the clubs money
    to buy­ new players,so now he is paying the price of­ failure
    it's not his money,it's the clubs
    spend­ spend spend
    margaret nolan london

    From Margaret, on Sun 1 Mar 7:54AM
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