Arsenal kept pace with Manchester United at the top of the Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

A first-half brace from Emmanuel Adebayor and a late volley from Tomas Rosicky gave Arsene Wenger's men the points after a strangely muted contest.

Fulham had willing runners in the shape of Clint Dempsey and Seol Ki-Hyeon, but the quality of their forward passing was lacking and Arsenal soon slipped into their stride.

Despite dominating possession, the visitors had only a weak Cesc Fabregas effort from the edge of the box to show for their efforts until Gael Clichy and Adebayor combined to give them the lead just before the 20-minute mark.

The Frenchman scampered down the left and clipped a cross into the penalty area, where Adebayor rose high above the Fulham defence to direct a header inside the far post from six yards.

Arsenal's dominance of possession was total, and they extended their lead in similar fashion five minutes before half-time.

This time Aleksandr Hleb supplied the cross, from the right, and Adebayor repeated the trick with a firm header past a statuesque Antti Niemi.

It took Fulham until the 42nd minute to construct a move of any real quality.

Steven Davis found Simon Davies on the left, and his cut-back to the edge of the box was side-footed into the stands by Danny Murphy.

Arsenal looked to kill things off quickly in the second half and twice went close to doing so in the first five minutes.

First, Eduardo sent a header just wide from a left-wing corner, and then the Croatian turned provider - wriggling infield from the left and cutting the ball back to Rosicky, whose first-time shot hit the post and went wide.

Roy Hodgson introduced Jimmy Bullard at half-time, and he was instrumental in a period when Fulham came close to getting a goal back.

With 20 minutes remaining, his corner was headed just over by Dejan Stefanovic, and moments later Dempsey had the ball in the Arsenal net - only for his header to be ruled out for offside.

In truth, Arsenal were never really troubled, and they made sure of the victory with ten minutes remaining.

Eduardo found space on the left, and his cross was touched home at full-stretch by the advancing Rosicky.

The goal ensured the result paid due testament to Arsenal's command of the game, while Fulham look set for a long, hard run-in.

Tom Williams / Eurosport