After a humiliating 2-0 loss to West Ham, Arsenal were expected to bounce back strongly against Fulham on Sunday afternoon. After an early goal from superstar winger Bukayo Saka, it appeared that they might as well.
Arsenal, on the other hand, lost control of the game, conceding two goals to the Cottagers with no reaction.
In some ways, it was an even worse performance than the one at West Ham since the Gunners created so little in the second half to threaten the Fulham goal.
Here are the three players who cost Arsenal the most in their loss on the road.
Gabriel Martinelli, LW
Gabriel Martinelli put in another dismal effort, making numerous fundamental positional and passing errors that led to Fulham transition attacks.
Martinelli’s effort is there, but the quality hasn’t been this week. Martinelli only had one chance before being hooked off shortly after the hour mark, and he wasn’t even quick in his one-on-one battles.
Arsenal needs its star left winger to produce something exceptional and provide an extra goal threat. His lack of sharpness is just as problematic as the strikers’ bad finishing. In this system, the wingers must contribute more.
Eddie Nketiah, ST
Eddie Nketiah was almost absent for much of the game against Fulham, and
CB Magalhes, Gabriel
Although Gabriel Magalhes wasn’t terrible and made a few of nice defensive interventions, the reality is that he was missing on both goals, especially the second one scored by Fulham’s Bobby De Cordova-Reid.
Gabriel was in charge of the Fulham guy on the corner. Before the game began, it was evident that Gabriel was attempting to bully the much smaller opponent with shoves in the back.
De Cordova-Reid calmly played them off, stayed with the play, and was quicker to the ball to put it in the net. To be honest, there are few things more embarrassing for a center back than getting beat to the ball on a set piece like that.
Gabriel didn’t care as much about the ball as his opponent did.
