Whites secure richly deserved point against Gunners

Fulham 1-1 Arsenal

Fulham 3-1 Brighton

A couple of hours before Sunday's match at the Cottage I turned on the radio to hear a pundit intoning a list of Arsenal players likely to score from a corner kick. He spoke too fast for me to copy the list and Email it to Marco Silva but as soon as play commenced it was clear that the Whites had been thoroughly drilled.

The Hammersmith End provided an excellent view of the Gunners' tactics. As Declan Rice prepared to take a third minute corner kick five or six of his teammates queued up beyond the goal waiting to rush forward to individual positions. The outcome was mundane: as the Whites grappled with the invaders William Saliba rose to the ball and headed wide.

The next eight minutes produced a dour struggle as the Fulham defence (still without Joachim Andersen) defied the visitors. Issa Diop shone but it was a collective effort. There ensued one of those joyous and unpredictable moments so special to football fans. Bernd Leno's clearance reached Kenny Tete and his perfect pass allowed Raul Jimenez to sweep the ball elegantly beyond David Raya.

This lack of deference must have shocked the North Londoners, who resumed their onslaught only to be thwarted by their former keeper at the peak of his form. Fulham did make the occasional mistake and Arsenal dominated possession but without finding an opening as easily as Jimenez had.

Seven minutes after the interval the Gunners' ploy finally worked. Rice's corner was nodded on to Saliba for the equaliser. VAR eventually confirmed that Antonee Robinson's toecap had saved the scorer from being offside.

With Arsenal stepping up the pressure Silva withdrew Emile Smith Rowe and Adama Traore, both of whom had worked hard without making any particular impact, and sent on Andreas Pereira and Harry Wilson. After another Rice corner had been wasted Pereira broke away and found himself with only Raya to beat but his shot was easily blocked.

Fulham held out until the 88th minute when Gabriel Martinelli's cross was deftly converted by Saka. VAR intervened again and this time it was Martinelli who was fractionally offside. The home side had secured a richly deserved point. Mikel Arteta thought otherwise:

'We fully deserved to win it. We did almost everything we had to.'

Almost is the key word. His players only achieved four shots on target. I never thought I would ever see the Times describe Fulham as the Arsenal's bogey team.

Brighton at the Cottage

Three nights previously the Cottage staged a home fixture against Brighton in even wetter and windier conditions than on Sunday. Those supporters who endured the bad weather were rewarded with an exciting match and a satisfactory result.

Silva omitted Andreas Pereira from the squad after the Brazilian (rightly or wrongly) was quoted as hoping for a new club next month. There were starting places for Rodrigo Muniz, Timothy Castagne and (perhaps the most deserving) Harry Wilson. All three put in a tremendous effort though sadly Muniz missed two fairly simple chances, one in each half.

After Harry Wilson had almost given Fulham an instant lead Alex Iwobi had the ball delivered to him by the Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen and he promptly swirled it into the net.

The lively visitors came hunting an equaliser with Kaoru Mitoma, Joao Pedro and Simon Adingra all stretching the Fulham defence. Errors were inevitable in the slippery, windy conditions and it was surprising that neither side managed a goal in the rest of a frantic half.

The second period started like the first with Harry Wilson lose to scoring. The difference between the two halves was that Brighton went on to equalise through Carlos Baleba.

Then Paul van Hecke could have put the visitors ahead. He redeemed himself for his miss by blocking Reiss Nelson when the latter was through on goal. Nelson subsequently hurt himself and he was replaced by Adama Traore.

With the match in the balance Silva introduced Pereira and the Brazilian delivered a wicked corner that bounced off Matt O' Riley's back into the net. Brighton continued to threaten even after Alex Iwobi doubled his tally in the 87th minute.

The drenched Fulham supporters went home ecstatic to dream about beating the Arsenal.