Robin van Persie's goal earned Arsenal a 1-0 win at Fulham, but the visitors were indebted to keeper Vito Mannone.
Van Persie grabs winner, but Mannone steals the show
Robin van Persie's second-half goal earned Arsenal a 1-0 win at Fulham, but the visitors were indebted to a sparkling performance from goalkeeper Vito Mannone for the three points.
Rookie keeper Mannone has been given a chance in goal in the absence of Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski and he did not let Arsene Wenger down at Craven Cottage.
Mannone produced a superb double save to deny Andy Johnson and Clint Dempsey in the first half, and also kept out substitute Zoltan Gera's shot before half-time.
Andrey Arshavin missed the Gunners' best chance of the first period before Van Persie struck the decisive goal seven minutes after the break.
A delightful pass over the Fulham defence by Cesc Fabregas was controlled brilliantly in his stride by the Dutchman, who then slipped his shot past Mark Schwarzer.
It was then back to Mannone to keep Fulham out, as he pushed away Johnson's header before producing a super stop to thwart Bobby Zamora to enable Arsenal to keep pace with the leaders.
Positive start
The Gunners started positively, with Bacary Sagna sending over a deep cross from the right which defender Thomas Vermaelen - their leading scorer so far - headed wide.
However, Mannone was soon called into action when Dempsey created space for a shot at the edge of the Arsenal penalty area.
Fulham were forced into an early change after just nine minutes when Damien Duff hobbled off, replaced by Gera.
The home side continued to knock the ball about well - and almost snatched the lead on 15 minutes.
Gera whipped the ball over, and Johnson's bullet header was brilliantly palmed away by Mannone - who also somehow kept out the rebound from Dempsey at point-blank range.
Fabregas fired just over after good work from van Persie, who combined with Fabregas to play in Arshavin, but the Russian was always stretching as his 10-yard effort flew high into the stands.
Nicklas Bendtner tested Fulham keeper Schwarzer with a low drive from the edge of the area.
There was little respite for the visitors, though, as Fulham were soon back on the offensive, quickly closing down any space.
Gera flashed a shot across goal, which Mannone got a hand to, after being played in on the right by Johnson.
Fulham looked to continue where they had left off following the restart, as Zamora flashed a 20-yard drive wide.
Arsenal, though, showed more determination, with Arshavin creating problems down the left.
Then, out of nothing, the visitors snatched the lead on 52 minutes, after Paul Konchesky's upfield pass was cut out and fed to Fabregas.
Exquisite
The Spain midfielder waited, before chipping an exquisite pass which split the centre-backs on the edge of the area, where Van Persie arrived to kill the ball with his left foot, before guiding a fine low strike into the far corner with his right.
After such a positive opening, Craven Cottage was stunned as the atmosphere fell flat.
It was almost 2-0 when Bendtner flashed the ball across goal, which Schwarzer beat away.
Fulham then broke quickly through Zamora down the right, and his centre was glanced goalwards by Johnson - only for Mannone to produce another stunning save at full stretch.
Just past the hour, Bendtner charged forwards to the edge of the Fulham box, but scuffed his shot.
Fulham came agonisingly close to an equaliser when Dempsey's drive deflected off Sagna and onto the post. Then, Gallas produced a brilliant block to deny Zamora.
On 77 minutes, Mannone did well to turn away another effort from Johnson before the inspired Italian then kept out Zamora's downward header.
Bendtner had a couple of half-chances late on, and although Wenger was less than impressed by the five minutes of injury-time, during which substitute Emmanuel Eboue flashed wide when clean through, the Gunners boss was more than happy with the result when the final whistle eventually came.
| Fulham |
Team Statistics |
Arsenal |
| 0 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 8 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 8 |
Shots off Target |
10 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 4 |
Corners |
6 |
| 15 |
Fouls |
13 |
| 4 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 4 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 66.9 |
Passing Success |
77.2 |
| 28 |
Tackles |
20 |
| 75 |
Tackles Success |
55 |
| 48.9 |
Possession |
51.1 |
| 51.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.9 |
|
