Arsenal 3-0 Fulham: Gyökeres and Saka send Arsenal six clear of Man City
Arsenal are six points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League after a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Fulham at the Emirates.
The hosts took an early lead through Viktor Gyökeres after brilliant work down the right from Bukayo Saka before the same duo combined to give Arsenal a second as the Englishman found the bottom corner, with the Gunners taking complete control of the contest.
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Gyökeres headed home from a Leandro Trossard cross seconds before half-time to put the game to bed as Arsenal took a six-point lead over Manchester City.
As it happened
After a brilliant start to the match, Arsenal took the lead. Bukayo Saka did enormously on the right to bamboozle Raúl Jiménez before firing a low cross across the penalty area where Viktor Gyökeres was on hand to tap into an empty net as the Gunners got off to a dream start.
Arsenal remained in control of the contest and almost doubled their lead midway through the first half. Gabriel Magalhães and Bernd Leno competed for a cross into the box before the ball fell to Gyökeres’ feet, but his effort was well saved by the German goalkeeper, before Saka fired the rebound just wide.
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Just a minute later, Arsenal thought they had a second after Riccardo Calafiori headed home from a Leandro Trossard cross, but the Italian was well offside and the goal was disallowed after a quick VAR review.
As the clock struck 40 minutes, Arsenal got their second. Coming from the same combination as the first, Gyökeres did well to collect the ball behind his back before holding the ball back and finding Saka heading home at Leno’s near post as Arsenal doubled their advantage before the break.
Just seconds before the break, the Gunners scored their third goal and it was again their Swedish shooter who got his second of the match. After nearly being caught out at the back, Arsenal managed to cut through Fulham’s press as Trossard pushed them forward before spotting Gyökeres’ header to find the net for the 21st time this season, with the home crowd giving the players a standing ovation as they left the field at half-time.
Fulham started the second half well and Timothy Castagne saw a header turned away from goal by Calafiori. But it was Arsenal who once again looked most likely to score and almost did so as Gyökeres, looking for a hat-trick, found himself one-on-one with Leno, but once again the former Arsenal keeper denied the Swede.
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Calafiori almost scored his goal and Arsenal’s fourth, but his header came back over the bar after hitting Bernd Leno’s head as the Gunners failed to find a fourth to increase their goal difference.
The second half was much duller than the first, with Arsenal content to conserve their energy and see out the game ahead of the huge Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid. Nothing underlined this more than the decision to replace Bukayo Saka at half-time, surely to protect him ahead of a huge end to the season for the Gunners, starting on Tuesday evening.
Fulham simply never got the game going and it was clear they were missing some key players for this one. They still find themselves just three points behind Brentford in sixth and still believe they can achieve something special and qualify for European football for the first time since 2012.
