Arsenal showed fantastic spirit and fight to secure a 0-1 win away at Crystal Palace in their first London derby of the season, however their second outing against a fellow side from the capital failed to yield the same result as an action-packed second half saw Arsenal disappointingly draw 2-2 at home to a resilient Fulham.
Team news for The Gunners saw a few shake-ups. With Eddie Nketiah and the suspended Takehiro Tomiyasu making way in the starting XI for Polish defender Jakub Kiwior and Belgian forward Leandro Trossard. Centre-back Gabriel remained on the bench.
If Gunners fans thought it would be a comfortable afternoon, they were proved wrong within the first minute. As Bukayo Saka’s misplaced pass was intercepted by Andreas Pereira who caught out Ramsdale with an effort that put his side ahead after just 57 seconds.
The Arsenal crowd responded as they tried to push their team towards an equaliser, however Mikel Arteta’s team continued to be frustrated by a determined Fulham, with former Gunner Bernd Leno restricted to only two saves in the first half. Martin Odegaard did have the ball in the back of the net just before the break however Kai Havertz was offside in the build-up and the strike was disallowed.
Mikel Arteta opted to make a change upfront at half-time, as Eddie Nketiah replaced Leandro Trossard at the tip of the Arsenal attack. However, the second half continued as a similar story to the first as Fulham continued to sit back in a low block and frustrate Arsenal. Fabio Vieira and Oleksandr Zinchenko came on at the hour mark to try and turn the game around and ten minutes later it would be Vieira who would win a penalty for Arsenal that would be dispatched cooly from Bukayo Saka. And just three minutes after that, Vieira would play a ball across the Fulham penalty area that would be met and placed home by fellow substitute Eddie Nketiah to sent the Emirates wild as Arsenal turned the game on its head within a matter of minutes.
Fulham defender Calvin Bassey would also later get a red card for a second yellow as he pulled down Eddie Nketiah, leading many to believe that the game was undoubtedly heading towards an Arsenal victory. However, Fulham would find an equaliser in the 87th minute as Joao Palhinha capitalised on some more poor Gunners defending from a corner to score the equaliser with Fulham’s first shot on target since their goal 86 minutes earlier. And it could’ve got even worse for Arsenal as Adama Traore ran through one-on-one in the 95th minute but a great save from Aaron Ramsdale kept the scores level.
The draw ends Arsenal’s 100% record so far this season and they will hope to bounce back in a huge game against Manchester United.
Player Ratings:
Aaron Ramsdale: 6 – Poor for the opening goal but made a great save at the end to prevent a defeat
Thomas Partey: 6 – One of the better players on the day, probably shouldn’t have been subbed off
William Saliba: 6 – Not the best day for Saliba but we wasn’t awful
Ben White: 6 – Same as Saliba, not great but not awful
Jakub Kiwior: 5 – Came in at LB and struggled
Declan Rice: 7 – A bright spark, kept the ball moving quickly and helped win it back on many occasions
Martin Odegaard: 6 – Couldn’t have the desired impact
Kai Havertz: 5 – A poor afternoon but should not be scapegoated
Bukayo Saka: 6 – Gave the ball away for the opening goal but calmly scored the equaliser
Leandro Trossard: 5 – Couldn’t have a proper impact and was subbed at half-time
Gabriel Martinelli: 6 – The Brazilian was not at his most impactful
Eddie Nketiah: 8 – Another strong showing and a deserved goal for a player who’s impressed so far this season
Fabio Vieira: 7 – One of the Portuguese’s best Arsenal cameos
Oleksandr Zinchenko: 6 – Was strong on the ball but was not great for the Fulham equaliser.