The middle of the line

Watching this was excruciating! Fulham started the game brightly, and Arsenal looked a bit slow at the back. The Gunners’ stand in keeper had to make several saves, including an amazing double as Johnson struck and Dempsey hit the rebound.

Arsenal did look fairly dangerous on the break, but for a long time didn’t get too many opportunities to threaten, and over the first half the home side were definitely on top.

When the second half started, Arsenal did come forward more, and van Persie was soon able to score from a move that started out from nothing. After that, the game was very even and Fulham were still creating chances right to the end, but even when they could get a shot on target, the excellent Vito Mannone (who saved 14 times) got in the way.