Arsenal put in a stylish performance against Fulham on Sunday to breeze to a ninth consecutive win, with strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in top form.
The Gunners ran out 5-1 winners at Craven Cottage, despite once again going into the half-time break on level terms. Unai Emery’s side are making a habit of breaking teams down in the second half and this was no exception.
It took a couple of moments of brilliance from Lacazette to help the team to take control of the game. In the end, though, it was a very deserved win. Emery’s substitutions had exactly the desired impact and Arsenal earned the three points.
1Goalkeeper and Defence
Bernd Leno 8
There was nothing Leno could do about the goal, but he saved everything else and came off his line quickly when required. As always, he looked comfortable building from the back and inspired confidence in the defenders in front of him. Another good performance on his first Premier League start.
Hector Bellerin 7.5
Bellerin’s match was a tale of two halves. He came in for a bit of criticism in the opening period as he struggled to impose himself at either end. After that, he turned things on in the second half, looked solid defensively and got an assist to top things off.
Shkodran Mustafi 7
Mustafi and Holding were both caught out for Fulham’s goal, allowing Schurrle to sneak in between them. Other than that, they both did their defensive jobs well enough, but Mustafi really had an off-day with his passing, as the only Arsenal defender to complete less than 70% of his attempts to find a teammate.
Rob Holding 7.5
Holding didn’t have that same problem, as the defender with the highest pass accuracy on the Arsenal team. Again, he needed to do better for the goal. Otherwise, a solid display.
Nacho Monreal 7
At half-time, we’d already seen the best and the worst of Monreal. A great assist for Lacazette after getting forward well, followed by giving the ball away and letting Fulham in to score. Thankfully, he tightened things up in the second half at the back.