Arsenal were held to a 2-2 home draw by 10-man Fulham after a sloppy start in the Premier League on Saturday, denying Mikel Arteta’s side provisional top spot in the table.
Andreas Pereira pounced on a sloppy back ball from Bukayo Saka in 57 seconds, and the midfielder spotted goal keeper Aaron Ramsdale far off his line before firing from 30 yards out to silence the home fans.
After an hour, Gunners got a penalty for a foul on Fabio Vieira, and Saka redeemed himself with a confident spot kick in the pouring rain. Two minutes later, Arsenal made it 2-1 as Vieira whipped in a ball for Eddie Nketiah to score.
Fulham were reduced to 10 men after Calvin Bassey earned a second yellow for a harsh tackle on Nketiah to prevent a counter-attack, but Joao Palhinha swept home from a corner to salvage a draw in the 87th minute.
Arsenal’s defensive flaws on display once more
After a tenacious display against Crystal Palace on Monday that saw the Gunners finish with ten men but three points, they went down quickly against Fulham.
With Pereira’s goal, Arsenal became the first Premier League team to surrender a first-minute goal three times in a calendar year.
The Gunners took the lead midway through the second half thanks to quickfire goals from Saka and Nketiah.
Despite having a man advantage in the final minutes, Arsenal were unable to finish the game. Palhinha was unmarked and took advantage of Arsenal’s shoddy defence to earn a point for Marco Silva’s club.
Arteta’s men have surrendered in the final 15 minutes of games against Nottingham Forest and now Fulham, demonstrating that the defence that cost them at the conclusion of last season still has to be rectified.
Because of Takehiro Tomiyasu’s red card against Palace, Jakub Kiwior was inserted into Mikel Arteta’s starting lineup, with Thomas Partey filling in as a temporary left-back, and the defence was clearly imbalanced as a result of the adjustments.
After regaining control of the game and taking the lead, Arsenal went cold and were punished by a tenacious Fulham team.
