Arsenal delivered a dominant display to beat Fulham 3-0 and give their goal difference a boost in a tantalisingly close Premier League (PL) title race, while also going unbeaten for a 33rd consecutive home H2H against the Cottagers.
The Gunners got off to an encouraging start and ensured that was reflected by the scoreline with nine minutes on the clock, as Bukayo Saka effortlessly twisted his way past Raúl Jiménez and fizzed the ball across goal for Viktor Gyokeres to convert.
Wearing the captain’s armband, Saka continued to look bright on the right flank while Leandro Trossard fired wide, having come close in the opening exchanges.
There was no letting up from the hosts, and Bernd Leno had to meet Gabriel Magalhaes to stop his header before making a recovery save to deny Gyokeres, with Saka firing the rebound wide.
The Emirates erupted as it appeared that Arsenal’s onslaught had resulted in another goal, but groans ensued when Riccardo Calafiori’s header was ruled out for offside.
They weren’t to be denied too much longer, though, as the roles were reversed from the opener with Saka collecting Gyökeres’ pass before drilling the ball past Leno at the near post in the 40th minute.
And there was yet more Arsenal euphoria in the first half’s final moments, as Gyökeres stretched to head Trossard’s header out of the former Arsenal goalkeeper’s reach.
Saka made way for Noni Madueke at half-time, while Jiménez came close with an ambitious strike and Timothy Castagne’s header was deflected wide shortly after the restart.
The Gunners still came forward with Leno spreading himself to deny Gyökeres a hat-trick that wouldn’t come, as the striker was brought off alongside Declan Rice shortly after, with Mikel Arteta taking the opportunity to rest his key players ahead of the second leg of his side’s UEFA Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid and PL run-in.
David Raya was then eventually given his first save to make by Timothy Castagne in the 73rd minute.
There was disappointment for former Gunner Emile Smith Rowe as he went off injured after an attempted shot, prompting the Arsenal fans to applaud him off.
Calafiori then saw Leno deflect his header onto the crossbar, but a message had already been sent as Arsenal recorded back-to-back PL victories and rubbished any doubts about their goalscoring ability, taking themselves top ahead of Manchester City’s Monday night match against Everton.
As for Fulham, this defeat is just their second in six PL matches, with the other coming against Liverpool, leaving them 10th but still in European contention.
