Neither team were coming off particularly good performances in the opening week, with Arsenal scraping past newly promoted WBA and Fulham losing to EPL first timers, Hull City, by 2-1.  This being said both teams would be eager to get their seasons back on track with a good result.   Fulham had beaten Arsenal only 1 time in the last 43 years, so Roy Hodgson's men were definitely going to have to be at their best.

Fulham started out well and although Arsenal had most of the possession Fulham showed they were not intimidated and held on to the ball well whenever they managed to prize it from the Gunners.  Fulham looked considerably better than last season, knocking the ball around very cleanly and quickly.  And after 20 minutes their efforts paid off when Hangeland got one of his long legs to Bullard's corner kick and put the home team a goal up.

Arsenal stepped up the tempo and came closes to scoring when Adebayor's header hit the post, but Schwarzer probably had it covered anyway.

In the second half Arsenal continued to pile on the pressure and Fulham looked a little bit more tired than in the first half, allowing Arsenal to push further up the pitch.  This also allowed Fulham a few good counter attacking opportunities, which they were unable to convert.

Although Arsenal had all the possession in the second half they were unable to create any clean scoring chances and in the last 10 minutes Fulham pull all their players into their own half and smothered the game, which finish 1-0 to Fulham.  This results certainly wasn't in Arsene Wenger's script and he will have to really improve his team's performances if they are to have any chance at the title this year.

Overall Match Rating: 2.5 out of 5