Silky Arsenal ease to victory at Fulham, keep title bid on track

LONDON — Arsenal eased past Fulham to regain their five-point lead atop the Premier League table as they ran riot in a 3-0 victory at Craven Cottage.

FULL MATCH REPLAY

“We’re going to win the league!” sang the Arsenal fans at various stages of the game and on this showing, they looked like a title-winning side.

Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all scored in the first half as Fulham couldn’t handle Arsenal’s slick movement and Mikel Arteta’s side should have won by many more.

Marco Silva’s side improved in the second half but Arsenal eased to a fifth-straight Premier League win as they now have 66 points and are five clear of Manchester City. Fulham have now lost two straight games and remain on 39 points.

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It was a joy to watch Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli rip Fulham apart in the first half. The duo ghosted between the left flank and central areas seamlessly and Fulham just couldn’t track them. Arsenal pressed Fulham high but they were also so clever in the way they allowed Fulham to play one pass out of the back into midfield and then snapped into challenges. Martin Odegaard pushed further forward to play as a second striker and was always free to combine when they won it back. Without Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah (the former is back fit and came on late in the game), Arsenal have had to be creative with their attacking options and that has indadvertedly given them an extra tactical layer at a pivotal point of the season. Jesus will of course start a large chunk of the final 11 games of the campaign but Arsenal now have a very different option to roll out whenever they want. That is going to be crucial in the final months of the season as