Arsenal comfortably defeated an inform Fulham club, 3-0 away at Craven Cottage yesterday - a tough place to play - to complete their away sweep of London and regain their five-point lead atop the Premier League Table and keep their dreams of winning their first league title in 19 years alive.
Arsenal now has 11 road wins, in nine of those they kept clean sheets. They have a total of 12 clean sheets, tied for most in the league with Newcastle United.
The Gunners also become the only Premier League team to win five consecutive London derbies away from home, keeping a clean sheet in each match. They defeated Fulham 3-0, Brentford 3-0, Crystal Palace 2-0, Chelsea 1-0, and Tottenham 2-0.
Belgian International, winger Leandro Trossard recorded a hattrick of assists in the first half, becoming the only player to record three assists in a first half of an away match in Premier League history. What a bargain signing for only £27 million.
Gabriel scored his third goal of the season, and second against Fulham - after scoring a late 85th-minute winner to lift Arsenal to victory at home on August 27 - off a brilliantly placed corner by Trossard in the 21st minute. All three of Gabriel’s goals have come off a corner.
Gabriel Martinelli scored his 12th goal of the season with a header to double Arsenal’s advantage five minutes later. Trossard received a pass from Granit Xhaka and ran into open space on the left flank, before crossing it into Martinelli who made no mistake with timing his jump to connect with the ball.
Martin Odegaard brilliantly controlled a cross into the box by Trossard before juking around a defender and firing it past Bernd Leno.
Arsenal was brilliant defensively all game but shut down Fulham in the second half, Fulham’s best chance was hitting the crossbar in the 70th minute.
With the win, Mikel Arteta recorded his 100th win as the Arsenal manager in 168 games. He posted a record of 100-26-44.
Arsenal has a chance to extend their lead atop the table to eight points on Sunday when they host Crystal Palace. Manchester City doesn’t play a league game this weekend as a result of the FA Cup quarter-finals. If Arsenal go eight points clear, the pressure is really on City.
No comments:
Post a Comment