LONDON: Per Mertesacker's first-half header offered Arsenal a gain at Fulham that moved them as much as third devote the Premier League on Saturday, but Arsene Wenger's side struggled to overcome a home side decreased to 10 men for 78 minutes. The victory moved the Gunners five points clear and two points clear of Chelsea of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, both of whom have two activities at your fingertips before their conferences with Liverpool and Manchester City respectively on Sunday. During this period of the summer season, the end result is all that matters, but there was enough to concern Wenger, who saw his part time after Fulham dropped Steve Sidwell to a 12th-minute red card following a foul on Mikel Arteta. Arsenal, who were unconvincing in Tuesday's scoreless home pull with Everton, were also reduced to 10 men themselves when Olivier Giroud was sent down for a similar challenge on Stanislav Manolev in the 90th minute. Prior to the game, Fulham boss Martin Jol spoke positively of Arsenal's odds of finishing in the most effective four and the readers' hopes were strengthened significantly when Sidwell walked. The midfielder, who started his job at Arsenal, was making his first-team return after offering a three-match ban following his sending-off against Queens Park Rangers. Then, Sidwell had an instance for complaining he was severely treated for difficult on Armand Traore, but your choice was a whole lot more clear-cut, on this occasion. The rate of Arteta's motion was a lot of for the Fulham man, who lunged in with his guys up, getting the Arsenal person on the leg. A four-match ban will be now faced by sidwell, bringing his season to a sudden end. Undeterred, Jol's area resolved into a pattern of protecting strong and trying to get Arsenal on the counter-attack, which they did in the 21st moment with a breakaway that should have provided the opening goal. Urby Emanuelson surged forward in to the visitors' half before issuing Dimitar Berbatov and the forward was denied with a great save your self from Wojciech Szczesny. Fulham continued to make progress, specially down their left flank, where Alex Kacaniklic, recalled the other day from a loan spell at Burnley, repeatedly analyzed Bacary Sagna, the Arsenal right-back. And had the Swede developed a better final basketball, Fulham might have easily constructed for Berbatov's earlier miss. By distinction, Arsenal's attacking actions lacked transmission and Mark Schwarzer, the Fulham goalkeeper, kept well protected by his back four on his 500th Premier League appearance. Signs of improvement for the guests came in the 35th minute when Giroud obtained a pass from Santi Cazorla, turned sharply, and drilled a low shot beyond Schwarzer and against the right-hand post. If Arsenal considered themselves unlucky, they had reason to be grateful when they did simply take nine minutes to the lead later. Laurent Koscielny completely misjudged an header from Theo Walcott's free-kick, but his miscue diverted the ball over the face of target, where Mertesacker stooped to head home from close range. After their outstanding first-half efforts, it absolutely was a cruel way for Fulham to fall behind, but Jol's area showed no signs of feeling sorry for themselves if the game restarted. Emanuelson continued to threaten, even though the piece of a yellow card that was drawn by simulation for the sad Arteta ruined his show. Fulham's regular force was impressive and it was Arsenal who looked experienced throughout the next period, rarely managing to separate forward as the house area looked for the equaliser. They thought it'd arrived 12 minutes from time when Manolev followed up a Richardson free-kick to throw the ball past Szczesny, just for the right-back to be penalised for shifting offside. Arsenal's nerves were exposed by the hosts' late force and they weren't helped when Giroud was sent off, but they held onto claim an important gain. (AFP)
Via: [Live Football] Manchester United - Aston Villa - English Premier League
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