Fulham’s Mexican striker Raul Jimenez (R) vies with Arsenal‘s English midfielder Declan Rice (C) through the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Arsenal at Craven Cottage in London on December 31, 2023.
| Photograph Credit score: 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 12 months 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 towards West Ham on Thursday. A win at Fulham would have lifted Mikel Arteta’s group provisionally above chief Liverpool in a tightly packed high 4.
However the Gunners have gained simply certainly one of their final 5 league video games and this was maybe probably the most listless efficiency in that stretch. Arteta must ponder whether or not to search for attacking reinforcements within the January switch window after his group struggled to create any high quality possibilities after its early objective – even after switching to a again three with two strikers up entrance for the final 20 minutes. And it got here towards a group that had misplaced its final three league video games by a mixed rating of 8-0.
“That was the worst efficiency of the season,” Arteta mentioned.
Gabriel Martinelli did the arduous work for the opener, operating with the ball from inside his personal half earlier than reducing into the world and curling a low present towards the far submit that Bernd Leno might solely divert into the trail of Saka, who simply needed to stick his foot out to show within the rebound.
Fulham had not gained within the final 26 Premier League matches during which it trailed courting to October 2022 (22 losses, 4 attracts), however responded effectively 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 objective 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 didn’t 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 effectively excessive. The truth is, Arsenal did not have an effort on track within the second half till a scuffed cross from Saka in harm time that fell harmlessly to Leno. And that was regardless of striker Gabriel Jesus coming off the bench within the 67th to companion Eddie Nketiah up entrance as Arteta opted to play with simply three defenders.
As an alternative, 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 towards the crossbar within the 87th.
