LONDON — Arsenal got what they wanted at Fulham, but will the method by which they achieved Saturday’s 1-0 win be enough alone to win the Premier League?
It might well be. The Gunners are the best team in the division on at least two counts: disciplined defending and set-piece prowess. The combination proved sufficient to edge past a spirited Fulham side, with Leandro Trossard’s close-range finish on 58 minutes securing a precious win that extended their lead at the top of the table. (They are three points ahead of Liverpool, who host Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.)
It might be a well-worn statistic, but it’s one worth updating and repeating: since the start of the 2023-24 season, the Gunners have scored 37 goals from corners — 16 more than anyone else. This gives them a considerable edge in what the season’s early weeks suggest could be a tight title race.
The consistency and resilience in their defending these days is almost ridiculous. After Trossard’s goal, Fulham had just one shot of any description for the rest of the game. Substitute Adama Traore’s volley was blocked, before Arsenal saw out nine minutes of stoppage time in comfort to leave Craven Cottage with the points.
“We generate so many set-pieces, so you have to start from there — we generate so many. We have to understand them and against these low blocks, when they don’t really want to drop and commit that many players there, [set pieces are] another opportunity to put the players that we want in the position that we want, with the role that we want, and we need to exploit that,” said Arteta after the match.
“We could have exploited it today in different ways. At the end it was a set-piece, so [that’s] more than welcome. [Another clean sheet is] what we need, but it’s about the commitment from every single player and the enjoyment that they have to maintain that solidity, and the foundation, that we build for the team to compete against any opponent.”
It’s too early to draw any meaningful parallels, but on a day when Manchester City’s star striker Erling Haaland made the difference against Everton in their 2-0 win, there was an obvious contrast with the manner in which Arsenal secured the points here.
The Gunners could have secured a wider margin of victory had Viktor Gyökeres not extended his goal drought to nine games for club and country. He had one excellent chance in each half: the first he fired low at goal, which Bernd Leno saved, and the second he skied off his left foot from close range.
Neither smacked of the conviction Haaland is showing right now, but it’s perhaps unfair to compare a player still adjusting to the league and his new team with one of the best strikers in world football at present. Gyokeres scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting Lisbon prior to his €73million summer switch and a return to anything like that form would put a more positive complexion on Arsenal’s performances given they are still creating some opportunities, even when clearly not at their best.
“[Gyokeres] was very close today again, two or three times,” said Arteta. “We were all begging for him to score. The work rate he puts in for the team is phenomenal, so we try to give him support and love and it will come.”
Captain Martin Odegaard, who so often stitches this team together, is absent for several weeks with a knee injury and Eberechi Eze struggled to replicate his influence on the team. Instead, Arsenal’s chief threat in the opening 45 minutes came from Riccardo Calafiori being given licence to roam forward from left-back, with the Italian having a stunning goal correctly ruled out for offside on 16 minutes.
Fulham were able to unsettle Arsenal with their high press, though Gabriel Magalhães looked disorientated by his long trip back from Japan after playing for Brazil during the international break as the home side threatened to take the lead, albeit without ever forcing Raya into anything approaching a difficult save. Arteta’s side was slovenly until the second half, when Bukayo Saka increasingly led the charge, but another dead-ball situation provided the decisive moment. Gabriel glanced Saka’s corner to the far post where Trossard could apply the final touch.
“We are frustrated because we felt we were well prepared for that moment, but this is the type of game we have to keep our focus for 95 minutes,” said Fulham boss Marco Silva. “The far post situation [with Trossard], we should have controlled better.”
Arteta will rightly focus on the end justifying the means, particularly at a ground where they failed to win on their previous two visits. It means Arsenal have 19 or more points from their opening eight league games for the third time in four seasons. The last time they went on to win the league after such a start was 2003-04; they haven’t won it since.
That is the challenge ahead.
