A game of “millimetres”, as Mikel Arteta put it. Are these the fine lines on which titles are eventually won or lost? In the 90th minute of this 1-1 draw at Fulham, Gabriel Martinelli was waiting for that key pass and looking along the Fulham defence. He was at that point onside, and then received the ball to cut in and play the cross that had been lacking from Arsenal’s attack all game. Bukayo Saka finished, but the moment was not done. In the second before the pass was played to Martinelli, Kenny Tete had stepped up. The Brazilian hadn’t been attentive to that, and the goal was eventually ruled out.
“For millimetres, we could have been sitting here with three points after a really strong and dominant performance against a really good team,” Arteta lamented, as he described it as he spoke about a “really crucial moment for us to go for it”.
