Arteta 'gutted' as Arsenal held at Fulham in title race blow

Arsenal had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Fulham, despite scoring from yet another corner, as the Gunners missed the chance to close the gap to Premier League leaders Liverpool to four points.

For the second time in the space of four days, Arsenal dealt a set-piece blow right after half-time, as William Saliba deflected Kai Havertz’s header from Declan Rice’s corner to level the game at 1-1 – their Gunners’ 23rd goal from a corner since the start of last season.

The Gunners were frustrated throughout at Craven Cottage, dominating the game and giving Fulham little – apart from Raul Jimenez’s opener after 11 minutes when the Mexican forward broke clear from Jakub Kiwior’s marking and slammed home past David Raya.

Saliba’s goal survived a lengthy VAR check for offside – but the technology denied Arsenal on the brink of stoppage time as Bukayo Saka’s late winner was ruled out for an earlier offside by Gabriel Martinelli.

“[Liverpool head coach] Arne Slot would have had his heart in his mouth watching those final few minutes and the biggest VAR decision of the season so far,” said Sky Sports‘ Jamie Redknapp at full-time.

“It was absolutely incredible but Martinelli just had to keep himself offside.”

“What a weekend for Liverpool. Man City dropping points, Arsenal dropping points and they’ve got themselves into an even better position.”

Arsenal had plenty more chances to score more than one at Craven Cottage – with their best chances coming from, you guessed it, corners. Saliba should have scored from Arsenal’s first one of the game but glanced his header wide, while Thomas Partey put a chance wide from another Rice corner.

The Gunners thought they had won it after Martinelli’s cross was headed home by Saka but VAR spotted the former had gone too early in the build-up.

“He is offside, but in footballing terms, that’s criminal from Martinelli,” says Paul Merson. “You cannot be offside. You’re looking along the line.

“He’s got pace, he’s electric, so he’s not someone who trying to nick a yard and play right on the edge. I’d be surprised if he isn’t on the end of one in the dressing room by the manager because he even knows.

“You could see it on his face after, he knows you can’t do that. One thing when you look along that line – do not be offside. It’s as simple as that.”

The draw – plus yesterday’s postponement of the Merseyside derby due to Storm Darragh – means Arsenal have cut Liverpool’s game at the top to six points – but Mikel Arteta’s side will see this as an opportunity missed.

Fulham, meanwhile, sit 11th but are still two points from fifth spot ahead of a trip to Liverpool on Saturday.

Arteta ‘gutted’ as he seeks perfect performance

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta:

“I’m gutted that we didn’t win it, because I think we deserved to win from the beginning to the end. We did almost everything that we had to do to win it.

“But this is the quality of the opposition, with one chance they score a goal. And then the margins of the league as well. For millimetres, we could have been sitting here with three points after a really strong and dominant performance against a really good team.

“You cannot cry about it. That’s the beauty of this league too. The beauty of this team too is how they are able to play today, even in these circumstances and against good opposition. I’m really happy for that.

“That’s the quality of opposition. We cannot feel sorry for ourselves. We have to stand up for ourselves. We had a really good performance against a really good side. Normally you don’t see these kinds of games here.

“Now we have to continue to improve and look at what we can do better so that the opposition have zero chances to win the game. That’s the objective.”

Analysis: Corners are great, but Arsenal need more from open play

Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz at Craven Cottage:

For the second game in a row, Arsenal produced an xG of around two, while giving their opponents very little at the other end. It was enough for victory against Manchester United, but not enough here.

It was also the second game in a row where 75 per cent of Arsenal’s xG came from corner kicks alone. From the dead ball, the Gunners are phenomenal – but at present they are not doing enough from open play.

Arsenal have barely got to 1.0 worth of xG in their last two games away from the corner flag. “It’s never enough if you don’t score three, four or five,” said Mikel Arteta after the game. “If we want to improve we have to be better in every action that we do.”

Fulham’s low block frustrated Arsenal. Of course it did – they have the fifth-best defensive structure in the division when it comes to Expected Goals Conceded. Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard barely got a sniff down the wings, while Kai Havertz was muscled out of the duels by Issa Diop and Calvin Bassey.

Arsenal have to face low block most weeks – “This is football. We cannot cry about it,” added Arteta – whose team need to become more creative when they don’t have corners.

Silva: It was not our best day with the ball

Fulham manager Marco Silva:

“Tough game as we expected, really difficult for us. It’s been a really tough week for us with the three games in eight days. Difficult type of games.

“This afternoon we knew it would be tough, Arsenal made it difficult for us. Great fighting spirit, the players stuck with the plan. The early goal from ourselves put us in a good moment, that was really good.

“After Arsenal took control of the game, I really believe that – on the ball – it was not our best game.

“Arsenal took the ball from ourselves, they control the ball, had set pieces but they only had one really good chance from Declan Rice, they didn’t have many more because we blocked them well.”

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