Arsenal maintained their five-point lead over Manchester City in the Premier League table with a routine win over London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage.
After the visitors saw Antonee Robinson’s own goal ruled out by VAR, Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard scored first-half goals as Mikel Arteta’s side ran out comfortable winners in west London.
Such a commanding performance, admittedly against a Fulham side missing the combative Joao Palhinha, off the back of a draining trip to Sporting on Thursday is nothing short of a statement.
Rarely has a team had to balance a Europa League campaign with attempts to win the Premier League but the Gunners certainly passed their test on that front with nothing short of flying colours.
In truth, the 3-0 scoreline flattered the hosts at half-time.
Where last week’s win over Bournemouth proved as dramatic as they come, there was a composed assurance about Arteta’s side all afternoon, something the excellent Leandro Trossard best typified.
The Belgian became the first player in Premier League history to record a hat-trick of assists before the break, more than justifying the £26m fee paid to bring him to the club in January and perhaps proving that missing out on Mykhailo Mudryk was not such a big deal after all.
Tosin Adarabioyo would hit the bar with a towering header in the second-half but, for their increase in possession, Fulham rarely truly troubled the Arsenal backline.
It was yet another example of the hosts’ reliance on Palhinha. In every League game without the Portugal international this season, Marco Silva’s side have conceded three goals or more. While Arsenal have and will continue to steamroll many teams this season, the brittleness in Silva’s squad outside of Palhinha is a real worry.
There was even time to bring Gabriel Jesus back into the fray as Arsenal saw out their win with little incident as the Gunners keep their title tilt well on track.
