Arsenal missed the chance to close to within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool after being held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday.
Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!
Bukayo Saka had a late winner ruled out by a VAR review for off-side as the Gunners’ four-match winning streak was halted in west London.
Raul Jimenez had fired Fulham into an early lead before William Saliba levelled thanks to another Arsenal goal from a corner.
Mikel Arteta’s side sit third, six points adrift of Liverpool, who have a game in hand after their clash at Everton on Saturday was postponed due to high winds.
Chelsea moved back into second, four points behind Liverpool, with their 4-3 victory at Tottenham later on Sunday.
READ MORE
‘Left in no man’s land’: Ange Postecoglou calls out football’s big issue after ‘painful’ loss
‘They won’t ever win anything’: Brutal reality check for Ange as Spurs blow ‘chaotic’ PL thrillerMan Utd reach near 40-year low with another home loss; City fail to win again
Arteta was not dwelling on the Gunners’ set back in the title race and the fact they have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six away games however.
The Spaniard instead chose to focus on the positives after his side had 67% possession and allowed the hosts to take only two shots, both of which were on target.
“I am gutted that we didn’t win it because we deserved to win from the beginning to the end,” Arteta said.
“We did almost everything that we had to do to win it, and, but 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, and that’s the beauty of this league, too.
“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves. We have to stand up for ourselves, and 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.”
Arsenal were still without influential defensive duo Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori through injury and Fulham exposed a makeshift left side of the Gunners’ backline to take the lead.
Kenny Tete’s ball in behind was pounced on by Jimenez, who drove forward and fired brilliantly across David Raya into the far corner on 11 minutes.
The opening goal came against the run of play and thereafter Fulham were forced back by an Arsenal side desperate to kickstart their bid for a first title in over 20 years.
Saka’s shot was comfortably saved by Bernd Leno in the visitors’ best effort of the first half.
Arsenal’s threat from set pieces was already well publicised before they scored twice from corners to beat Manchester United 2-0 in midweek.
Yet, for all their preparations, Fulham were still powerless to prevent the corner kings.
Saliba stabbed home Kai Havertz’s header from close range for Arsenal’s 23rd goal from corners since the beginning of last season.
Another corner should have led to the winner but Thomas Partey nodded wide when unmarked from another pinpoint Declan Rice delivery.
Saka did head in at the back post as stoppage time approached, but Gabriel Martinelli had strayed off-side before supplying the cross.
“It’s a great thing that we can again score from a set-piece,” Arteta said. “It’s never enough if you don’t score three, four or five.
“If we want to improve we have to be better in every action that we do. If they play 11 direct balls, I want to win 11. If they play the high-press six times, I want to play six times. We want to manage the game 100 per cent.”
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester struck twice late on to deny Brighton in a 2-2 draw at the King Power.
Tariq Lamptey opened the scoring in spectacular fashion with a looping effort into the top corner from outside the box on 37 minutes.
Yankuba Minteh looked to have sealed the three points for the Seagulls 11 minutes from time.
But Jamie Vardy started the comeback on 86 minutes before teeing up Bobby De Cordova-Reid to snatch a point in stoppage time.
Bournemouth also scored twice in the dying minutes to deny Ipswich a first home win in the top flight for 22 years in a 2-1 win at Portman Road.
Conor Chaplin put Ipswich in front, but the Cherries move up to eighth after substitutes Enes Unal and Dango Ouattara turned the game around in the final three minutes plus stoppage time.
Ipswich remain four points adrift of safety in the bottom three.
Discussion about this post