Arsenal vs. Fulham

3-3, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 2012-11-10
Giroud 11, 69
Podolski 23

This was a game that we should have won, no matter what circumstances. If we are ever to win the league title we need to win these home games and as long as we keep failing at doing that we will not win anything, simple as that. We did not even deserve the win today, which you might have thought considering the opposition and venue.

We stared the game rather well, our first decent chance came when Giroud had a shot that went over the bar and just minutes later the Frenchman opened the scoring. Walcott won us a corner and decided to take it himself, which was a good decision as he found Olivier Giroud in the box who scored with a powerful header! One of few positives in the last couple of games is that our French striker has begun to find the back of the net and maybe people have been a little to eager to write him off. Approximately ten minutes after Giroud's opener we had a two-goal lead as a result of some brilliant play in the box. Cazorla played a stunning pass that went past Walcott to find Arteta, and our co-captain crossed it to Lukas Podolski for a fairly simple tap-in. Then we got to see what appeared to be a replay from the mid-week Champions League game, us losing a 2-0 lead. Our defending was extremely poor on both occasions since the Fulham goalscorers were more or less left completely alone in our box. Just before the half-time both teams had decent chances, Giroud headed the ball just over the bar and Fulham got even closer in the last minute when there was further chaos in our box.

The second half almost began as the first one when Walcott crossed the ball to Giroud after ten minutes, but this time the cross was slightly too high for the French striker. Five minutes later Walcott himself got close with a decent shot, unfortunately it went just wide of the goal. Disaster struck as Arteta made a huge blunder in his defensive duties and the result was a penalty for Fulham that they dispatched successfully. Theo continued his good form and almost produced an equalizer just after the penalty, but his shot was saved by the 'keeper this time. However, just a minute later we were back on level terms! Giroud hit the post when he found himself head-to-head with Schwarzer, Walcott picked up the rebound and his cross was headed into the back of the net by no other than Olivier Giroud! He might prove to be our top scorer yet. With fifteen minutes to go Koscielny made two fantastic blocks to deny Fulham a winner. He has received a lot of criticism lately, which makes it even more important to highlight his positives as they are less likely to be mentioned than the mistakes made. Giroud came close to scoring a hat-trick with a sizzling shot when there was ten minutes to go, yet the 'keeper managed to keep it out. Walcott appeared to pick up an injury and was replaced by Arshavin, hopefully it was more of a precautionary substitution since he has been one of our best players of late. There was quite some last minute drama when Arshavin's cross was stopped by the arm of a Fulham player and we were awarded a penalty, in the very last minute! However, Mikel Arteta's attempt for redemption after his part in the Fulham penalty ended in despair as Schwarzer saved the penalty and we had to settle for just the one point.

This was obviously one great disappointment, not just considering the last-minute penalty but the game as a whole. Though you should never rule anything out, it is no exaggeration to state that we are most likely out of the title-race already. But there will always be the cups and of course there is no point in giving up on the league just yet, one must quite simply just remain realistic about our chances at a trophy the way we are playing right now.

Injury Update;
- Szczesny, Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain all back, yet they started on the bench. Ramsey brought on fifteen minutes into the second half and Oxlade-Chamberlain was introduced with fifteen minutes left of the game.