Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season after going down 1-0 to London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Hangeland hands Cottagers first win
Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season after going down 1-0 to London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Brede Hangeland's first goal for Fulham proved to be enough to give the Cottagers a rare win over their London rivals.
The big defender lost William Gallas inside the box from Jimmy Bullard's corner to poke the ball home past Manuel Almunia on 21 minutes.
The closest Arsenal came to an equaliser was when Emmanuel Adebayor saw his towering header from Bacary Sagna's cross come back off the post two minutes later.
Arsenal were far from their best as they struggled to create too many goalscoring opportunities against a hard-working Fulham side.
Arsenal tried to impose their possession game in the early stages but were caught out when Zoltan Gera slipped a fine ball through to Bobby Zamora in the inside left channel in the eighth minute.
The former West Ham striker glided in behind the defenders but carelessly chipped a poor shot over the crossbar from a difficult angle when he should have waited for support to arrive.
Arsenal's first shot finally came after 12 minutes when van Persie's pass found Adebayor and the big Togo forward neatly controlled but fired a low drive off-target from 20 yards.
Arsenal should have gone ahead in the 18th minute. Theo Walcott's cross from the right was miskicked by newcomer Samir Nasri - and van Persie slammed an inviting chance wide.
Opener
And the visitors paid a heavy penalty when Fulham grabbed the lead from a corner just a minute later.
Giant defender Hangeland responded faster than any Arsenal defender to a Bullard's low driven free-kick, sliding in to toe-poke his first goal for the club.
And Fulham's luck held when Adeybayor's header from a Bacary Sagna cross came back off a post.
Arsenal finally started to put some pressure on the Fulham rearguard, and van Persie went close with a header under challenge from Aaron Hughes.
Arsenal had clearly been given some sharp words by manager Arsene Wenger at the interval because they began the second half with more purpose.
But it was Fulham who forged another chance on the break just before the hour mark when Seol outwitted Toure and sent in a fine near-post cross which Zamora drilled just too high.
Adebayor's 20-yard shot at the other end was well off target, but at least Arsenal were now getting in some shots and crosses even though Walcott remained almost anonymous on the right.
Change
Arsenal sent on Nicklas Bendtner as substitute for Walcott with 25 minutes left, clearly trying to add muscle to their passing game.
It almost paid off when Van Persie's well-struck low drive after a slick move went just wide in the 68th minute.
Fulham had to withstand Arsenal's bombardment in the last 20 minutes but the visitors did not threaten as might have been expected and the home side always had Zamora lurking for a chance on the break.
It was all hands to the pump for Fulham with four added minutes at the end but their fans looked more anxious than the players as Arsenal toiled in vain.
| Fulham |
Team Statistics |
Arsenal |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
1 |
| 4 |
Shots off Target |
11 |
| 0 |
Blocked Shots |
8 |
| 1 |
Corners |
5 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
6 |
| 8 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 76.8 |
Passing Success |
81.8 |
| 36 |
Tackles |
27 |
| 72.2 |
Tackles Success |
74.1 |
| 43.2 |
Possession |
56.8 |
| 48.6 |
Territorial Advantage |
51.4 |
|
