Mikel Arteta marked his 100th Premier League match as a manager with a hard fought 2-1 win over Fulham FC.
The win ensured Arsenal remain the only team with a 100% win record in the league this season.
Arteta made 2 changes to the starting XI that defeated Bournemouth last week. Zinchenko & Partey were left out of the squad after picking up knocks on Friday.
The first half was all Arsenal but the Gunners failed to get a clear cut chance. When they did, they fluffed their lines.
In the second half, Arsenal fell behind against the run of play. Mitrovic stole the ball from Gabriel before slotting beyond Ramsdale in the 56th minute.
Eddie Nketiah was introduced in the 61st minute for Kieran Tierney and in the 64th minute Odegaard responded. His shot took a deflection beyond Leno in goal.
With 5 minutes of regulation time left, Gabriel made amends for his mistake. Martinelli’s corner fell to a dangerous spot in the box and Leno couldn’t punch away. The ball fell to Saliba’s head before Gabriel stabbed home the winner.
VAR had to confirm the goal but it was a relief to the home fans at the Emirates. Arteta made 2 defensive subs to secure the scores – Tomiyasu for Jesus; Holding for Odegaard.
Arteta was pleased with Gabriel’s response to the mistake: “This is part of football, mistakes are part of it and it’s going to continue to happen. But it’s about how you respond to that and I’m really pleased“
Last season, Arsenal had challenges winning games they had fallen behind. This season they have passed the first test. Next is Aston Villa on Wednesday.
In other results, Manchester United were 1-0 winners at Southampton, Liverpool went haywire over Bournemouth (9-0) while City came from behind to defeat Crystal Palace 4-2 with a hattrick from Erling Haaland.
Prediction result: XI 81%; score 75%
SoccerGunz 