Unai Emery picked a surprising line-up for today’s game at Fulham, but the incoming Arsenal players looked like they were keen to impress the boss and Henrik Mhkitaryan nearly opened the scoring after just two minutes, but Fulham were not going to lie back and soak up the pressure and the next half hour was end to end stuff with Iwobi, Lacazette, Schurrle, Seri and Welbeck all getting in on the action.
But it was the Gunners that broke the deadlock when Iwobi found Lacazette on the edge of the box and he turned brillianty to slot it into the net. That put the Cottagers on the back foot for the next 5 mins but they gradually came back into the game and fought hard to get an equaliser. Their efforts were rewarded when Schurrle got his second chance in 3 minutes and chipped it brilliantly over Leno and Arsenal went into the break on a low…
But they came out fighting and within 4 mins after the break Lacazette gets his second after being teed up by Danny Welbeck and we were back in the ascendancy. Seri and Schurrle carried on making life hard for us but with half an hour to go Emery decided to mix it up a bit and swapped Welbeck for Aubameyang, and 5 minutes later Ramsey came on for Iwobi.
As usual the Spaniard’s subs worked out and immediately Aubameyang found Ramsey in a better position and the Welshman knocked it in off the post. 3-1 and we were looking good for our 9th win in a row. Fulham carried on with a spirited performance but Aubameyang killed their hopes with a great goal with 10 minutes to go after a great pass from Bellerin and there was no way back for Fulham.
That was the signal for Emery to give Lacazette a rest and he brought on Guendouzi to slow the game down, but Arsenal were enjoying themselves and playing as a real team. It was certainly a great joy to see, and there was still time for Aubameyang to make it 5 in added time. A brilliant game and Arsenal had 20 shots and scored with five of them. Let’s get clinical!
So we move into fourth place and are aiming for ten in a row….