Fulham’s manager Marco Silva was more than a tad bitter after his side lost 2-1 at the Emirates, claiming that Arsenal had few ‘clear chances’ and that both goals were ‘lucky’.

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 27: Marco Silva, Manager of Fulham interacts with referee Jarred Gillett following their sides defeat in the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Fulham FC at Emirates Stadium on August 27, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 27: Marco Silva, Manager of Fulham interacts with referee Jarred Gillett following their sides defeat in the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Fulham FC at Emirates Stadium on August 27, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Marco Silva has not taken losing to Arsenal well.

Despite the fact that his side’s goal only game about because of a mistake by Gabriel, making it more than a little lucky itself, Silva was not a happy man.

“It was a tough, tough result,” Silva said after the game.

“They didn’t have many clear chances, they had two goals and both were lucky goals… the way they scored the first goal with the deflection is really bad luck and we don’t know how they scored the second.”

Was there a deflection on the first goal? Yes, there was.

What happened for the second? Bernd Leno made a mess of it and Arsenal capitalised.

Silva added, “Credit for our players, they deserved more than we took from this game.”

They did not.

Leaving aside the fact that Fulham were allowed to foul with impunity for most of the afternoon, Arsenal had 22 shots on the day to Fulham’s 11.

16 of those shots came from inside the box, so it wasn’t like Arsenal were forced to gamble from range.

Arsenal’s xG was 2.73 while Fulham’s was just 0.83. In other words, Arsenal weren’t ‘lucky’, Fulham were lucky it wasn’t more.

In addition, Arsenal had nine corners to Fulham’s two, 72% possession over the course of the 90 minutes.

Fulham got what they deserved.