Fulham’s Mexican striker Raul Jimenez (R) vies with Arsenal‘s English midfielder Declan Rice (C) in the course of the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Arsenal at Craven Cottage in London on December 31, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Arsenal fell to a second straight loss with a 2-1 defeat at Fulham on Sunday, lacking out on an opportunity to finish the yr atop the Premier League desk.
Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal the lead after simply 5 minutes, however the guests have been toothless after that as Raul Jimenez equalized within the first half and Bobby De Cordova-Reid poked within the winner within the 59th.
Arsenal topped the standings at Christmas however enters 2024 in fourth place after this defeat adopted its first residence lack of the season in opposition to West Ham on Thursday. A win at Fulham would have lifted Mikel Arteta’s crew provisionally above chief Liverpool in a tightly packed high 4.
But the Gunners have received simply considered one of their final 5 league video games and this was maybe probably the most listless efficiency in that stretch. Arteta should ponder whether or not to search for attacking reinforcements within the January switch window after his crew struggled to create any high quality possibilities after its early aim – even after switching to a again three with two strikers up entrance for the final 20 minutes. And it got here in opposition to a crew that had misplaced its final three league video games by a mixed rating of 8-0.
“That was the worst performance of the season,” Arteta stated.
Gabriel Martinelli did the arduous work for the opener, working with the ball from inside his personal half earlier than chopping into the realm and curling a low present towards the far put up that Bernd Leno may solely divert into the trail of Saka, who simply needed to stick his foot out to show within the rebound.
Fulham had not received within the final 26 Premier League matches through which it trailed courting to October 2022 (22 losses, 4 attracts), however responded nicely to going behind. The hosts had already missed two first rate possibilities to attain by the point Jimenez met a low cross from Tom Cairney and beat David Raya with a first-time effort within the twenty ninth. Jimenez marked his return from a suspension with a fourth aim in his final 4 league video games — equaling his tally from the earlier 50.
Fulham continued to look harmful when going ahead De Cordova-Reid put the hosts forward after Arsenal did not clear a nook and the ball fell to the winger to poke residence from shut vary.
Saka had an opportunity to equalize within the 63rd when the ball fell to him within the space however he volleyed nicely excessive. In truth, Arsenal did not have an effort heading in the right direction within the second half till a scuffed cross from Saka in damage time that fell harmlessly to Leno. And that was regardless of striker Gabriel Jesus coming off the bench within the 67th to accomplice Eddie Nketiah up entrance as Arteta opted to play with simply three defenders.
Instead, Fulham got here nearer to a 3rd as Raya needed to be at full stretch to cease a shot from Cairney within the 71st and Andreas Pereira smashed a free kick in opposition to the crossbar within the 87th.
Source web site: www.thehindu.com
