Arsenal rocked up at Fulham a year ago this month and were beaten 2-1. Fast-forward a year, and the performance is almost scene-for-scene.
The Gunners haven't changed all that much in a year. Manager Mikel Arteta spent all summer saying that his job was to get the most out of his players; there was a blip where Martin Odegaard was out injured and there have been constant calls for a more traditional striker to replace false nine Kai Havertz.
But as Arsenal toiled away in front of a well-organised Fulham side, the personel became irrelevant: on both sides, too, with Joachim Andersen unavailable to marshall the backline, the north Londoners on their ninth separate iteration of a defence in 15 games and Odegaard restored.
Arsenal still have huge trouble facing a mid-block – and until they find a way to sort it, they won't win the league
There have been suggestions that Martin Odegaard is the fix-all issue for Arsenal; that his impact is Rodri-sized. Fulham showed everyone that the Gunners have far bigger problems.
Just as last season, Marco Silva organised his side into a solid mid-block and looked to hit the visitors in transition. Mikel Arteta called them “well-organised” in his post-match interview. In truth, his team didn't have a lot of defending to do.
Arsenal's two most creative players are usually 10 yards from one another, with the left-winger isolated and on the touchline. With no Riccardo Calafiori, Jurrien Timber was left to invert from left back. Declan Rice had a couple of good chances – as he did against Newcastle United – but he's not the box-crashing midfielder you'd perhaps have wanted them to fall to.
When the Gunners click, they can be unstoppable with fluidity in attack and a structure in which every player feels comfortable. Sometimes though, it's this easy to stop them.
For all the calls for £100 million to be thrown at a top striker, you get the feeling that just a simple overlap from a full-back would have a similar effect: Trossard, Martinelli and Saka so far away from the box feels so counterintuitive. Today, Arsenal lacked a left-footed starter on the lefthand side of the pitch: it was almost impossible to stretch the play.
Injuries have ravaged this backline and Arteta has struggled for consistency with his line-ups. But for the second successive season, Marco Silva has far too easily collected points against his team – and even had Gabriel Martinelli not been flagged offside for a ruled-out winner, this is an issue that is costing Arsenal time and again.
It was the same against Newcastle earlier this season, it could have against Manchester United but for two more set-piece goals. It was the problem against Aston Villa that cost them in the run-in last term. and with Brentford and Brighton coming up before the FA Cup begins, the Gunners need to find solutions fast.
The dynamics of this team need to be fixed. This is a problem that has haunted the Gunners since Granit Xhaka left the club – and once again, it could threaten to derail their season.
