Mikel Arteta hailed his Premier League table-toppers for rewriting recent history following Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Fulham.
The Gunners extended their lead at the league summit to three points after Leandro Trossard scored from a corner shortly before the hour mark at Craven Cottage.
Arsenal took just one point in their away fixtures at Newcastle and Fulham, and at home to West Ham last season.
This time around they have registered nine points from nine and their victory here, at a ground where they have failed to win on their previous two visits, marked another statement of intent in the club’s bid to end their 22-year wait for a league title.
“The recent history wasn’t in our favour and we wanted to change that, like we did against Newcastle and West Ham at home,” said Arteta.
“And this is another step to having that mindset and that ability to win these kind of matches against a really good opposition, and a really difficult place to come.
“When the context is 0-0, and the game gets longer and longer it becomes more difficult, but we showed a lot of maturity. We kept knocking on the door in various ways, and in the end we found a way, with the set-piece to do it but we deserved it.”
In the moments after Trossard’s opener, Bukayo Saka looked to have earned his side a penalty when he was upended on the corner of the area by substitute Kevin.
Anthony Taylor wasted no time in pointing to the spot but VAR adjudged Kevin touched the ball before taking out the man. Taylor headed over to his pitch-side monitor and overruled his decision.
Arteta, who was visibly frustrated on the touchline, continued: “I was getting animated because it was taking so long.
“I asked Anthony ‘why it was taking so long’. It was nothing to do with the process, it was just that the screen wasn’t working.
“It probably wasn’t a penalty so they made the right decision in the end, and I was just animated because of the process.”
The only sour note for Arteta following Arsenal’s fifth straight victory in all competitions was Viktor Gyokeres’ failure to find the net for a seventh straight game.
Arteta added: “He was very close again today. We were all begging for him to score. The work rate he puts in for the team is phenomenal. We try to give him support and the love, and it will come.”
For Fulham, who have now lost three consecutive league games, manager Marco Silva admitted he was frustrated to allow Arsenal to score their 37th goal from a corner in the league since the start of 2023-2024 season – remarkably 16 more than any other side.
He said: “Arsenal are in a great moment and they are a tough side to play against, but until they scored, there was nothing really special from them.
“Offensive set-pieces are hard to stop. The frustration for us is that we felt we were well prepared, and we showed in the game that we were, but you have to be focused for 95 or 100 minutes and in that one moment we let them in.”
