Arsenal overcame Fulham to beat them 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium. They are now the only team in the Premier League who haven’t lost or drawn a match yet this season. This is only the fifth time when Arsenal have won their first four matches of a campaign. Meanwhile, it was Fulham’s first defeat of the season. 

Early in the game, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta was forced to make two changes to the winning combination. Kieran Tierney and Mohamed Elneny came in for injured Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey. Fulham also came into this game unbeaten, securing two draws and a win against Brentford.

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Granit Xhaka won Arsenal a corner in the first minute of the match, but the Gunners failed to score. The North London side dominated the visitors, having 80% possession in the first 20 minutes of the game. Gabriel Martinelli came close to score the first one for the Arsenal in the 29th minute, when he hit the crossbar from a corner. The Gunners again had a chance when Fulham goalie Bernd Leno made a superb save one-on-one against Bukayo Saka. 

Arsenal’s Ben White (36′) was the first player to be booked in the match when he received a yellow card after his challenge brought down Antonee Robinson. Soon Gabriel Jesus (44′) and Fulham’s Joao Palhinha (44′) followed his suit, when Pahinha fouled Saka and Jesus had an altercation with Palhinha regarding the same. The first half ended with both teams failing to score. 

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Arsenal again dominated the second half, putting Fulham straightaway on the backfoot. However, Aleksander Mitrovic gave Fulham their first goal in the 56th minute. Gabriel spent too much time with the ball and Mitrovic takes the ball from him to finish past Arsenal GK Aaron Ramsdale. This was Mitrovic’s 100th goal for Fulham.

Arsenal then increased their intensity, with Arteta substituting Tierney for Edward Nketiah. And soon in the 64th minute, Martin Odegaard gave Arsenal the equaliser they desperately needed. Saka assisted in the goal, and Odegaard’s shot got deflected past Leno. 

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Soon, Fulham were close to scoring again, when Ramsdale made a brilliant save to deny Mitrovic another goal when he directed his header off a corner. Arsenal upped the pressure on the visitors, especially substitute Nketiah who missed two chances to give Arsenal a much-needed goal. 

Arsenal’s prayers were answered when defender Gabriel made up for his earlier error to score the winning goal. William Saliba won the header from the corner to assist Gabriel. After the goal, Fulham tried their best to equalise but couldn’t.

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Fulham thus tasted defeat for the first time this season. Arsenal have now won four games in a row and are the only team in the league with a 100% win percentage. They sit comfortably on top of the table and Fulham have slipped to the eleventh place.