They took Bukayo Saka off before the spring rain began to fall. He is so precious, so germane to Arsenal’s reinvigorated title challenge and their chances of winning their Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, that it would have been reckless to risk him for a minute longer than was necessary. And Mikel Arteta may be accused of many things but he is not reckless.
It only took Saka 45 minutes to win this game anyway. The Arsenal captain, making his first start for six weeks, blew through it like a breath of fresh air on a sticky late afternoon in north London. After Arsenal’s campaign had become stymied by nerves and tiredness in recent weeks, Saka’s return changed everything.
They played with freedom again in this comprehensive 3-0 victory against Fulham. They played with freedom and flair and certainty. Almost every player looked as if a weight had been lifted from them. It was as if the knowledge that they could not afford any more mistakes with Manchester City so close behind them, had liberated them.
Or maybe it was just Saka. This is a fine Arsenal team. It is solid at the back, Declan Rice dominates in midfield and Eberechi Eze and Martin Odegaard are players of great accomplishment.
And Viktor Gyokeres, who scored twice and should have had a hat-trick, had his best game in an Arsenal shirt. But Saka is the game-changer. Saka unlocks defences. Saka is the resident genius. Arsenal might have the strongest squad in the league but when Saka is injured, they miss him.
If there was a regret for Arteta, it was that his team did not score more. They dominated Marco Silva’s team pretty much from start to finish but Gyokeres missed one gilt-edged chance, Riccardo Calafiori saw a header bounce off Bernd Leno’s head and on to the crossbar and young substitute Max Dowman dragged a shot wide when well-placed.
Bukayo Saka was Arsenal’s game-changer as the Gunners blew Fulham away in the first half
Arsenal will not care too much. This was a team that actually looked as if it finally believes it can win the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years. Even if Atleti were able to rest their entire first team for their victory over Valencia on Saturday, this also looks like an Arsenal side which believes it can reach its first Champions League final for 20 years. Suddenly, this is a stadium of possibilities again. Not a stadium of fear.
For the first time in a long time, this result and Arsenal’s three goals mean the pressure is back on Manchester City again. Arsenal are six points clear at the top with a superior goal difference and City have a difficult away game at Everton on Monday. If people were expecting Arsenal to fold against Fulham, they were sorely disappointed.
It took less than nine minutes for Saka to make the difference. Lewis-Skelly laid the ball out wide to him on the right and he ran at Raul Jimenez. Saka left the Mexico striker with twisted blood and sat him down on his backside as he turned him one way then the other. Saka slid the ball across goal and Gyokeres tapped it in from a few yards out.
Arsenal’s intensity did not drop. They dominated the game and kept Fulham penned in their own half, probing for openings relentlessly. They nearly added to their lead midway through the half when Leno spilled a cross from the right and it fell at the feet of Gyokeres. Leno saved well from the Arsenal striker and then saw Saka slam the rebound just wide.
Arsenal thought they had scored a couple of minutes later when Riccardo Calafiori glanced in a precise chip from Leandro Trossard but replays showed that Calafiori had strayed a yard offside. The disappointment punctured the atmosphere inside the ground a little and affected the players, too.
Fulham came back into the game. Arsenal started to look nervous again. Ben White began to struggle on the right. First, he stumbled as tried to shepherd the ball out of play and allowed Samuel Chukwueze to steal in front of him. Then he hacked a ball wildly out of play. On the touchline, Arteta applauded him manically, desperately trying to bolster his confidence.
Perhaps it worked. Five minutes before half-time, Arsenal doubled their lead. Gyokeres held the ball up well in the inside right channel and played a ball inside Antonee Robinson into the path of Saka. Saka advanced on goal, feinted to shoot across Leno but drilled it past him at his near post instead.
It felt like a huge goal for Arsenal. A goal that might allow them to relax and have the confidence to score again. It was an opportunity for them to pile some real pressure on City by scoring a hatful.
They acted on that sentiment almost immediately. In the last minute of time added on before the break, Trossard broke away down the Arsenal left and crossed deep to the back post for Gyokeres.
Viktor Gyokeres had his best game in an Arsenal shirt as he scored twice in a 3-0 victory
His second was a superb header that gave Mikel Arteta’s men a three-goal lead at the break
It was not an easy header. It was slightly too high for Gyokeres and slightly behind him but he adjusted his body superbly and leapt superbly to head the ball back across Leno and into the net.
Arteta took Saka off at half-time and replaced him with Noni Madueke. It did not have a beneficial effect. Fulham laid siege to the Arsenal goal in the opening minutes of the half and came close to pulling a goal back from a corner.
But Arsenal soon settled back into their stride and Gyokeres really should have completed his hat-trick when he was put clean through on goal but he hit his shot too close to Leno, who saved well. In a title race this close, those missed opportunities are the kind Arsenal may rue.
Ten minutes before the end, Arsenal came desperately close to getting that fourth goal the stadium craved. Calafiori rose majestically to meet Madueke’s corner and headed it goalwards. Leno was beaten, comprehensively beaten, but as he fell towards the ground, Calafiori’s effort bounced off the top of the goalkeeper’s head and cannoned against the bar.
