Arsenal vs Fulham: Palinha's late goal saw 10 men Fulham draw against Arsenal

The Fulham vs Arsenal match at the Emirates Stadium was one of the best matches in the Premier League so far. Both the teams gave it their all and at the end of the match it felt like no one deserved to lose. Arsenal came back from a quick Fulham goal just to concede in the later stages of the game and got the points shared between the two sides.

Read also: Chelsea vs Luton Town: Raheem Sterling brace gives Pochettino's Blues first victory of the PL season

Arsenal vs Fulham

First Half

Mikel Arteta's team saw their perfect start to the campaign come to an end in the hands of a brave Fulham team in the Arsenal vs Fulham match at the home of the Gunners. Fulham took an early lead, under 1 minute through a Bukayo Saka miss pass, which allowed Andreas Pereira to score a long range effort into the Arsenal goal.

After that Arsenal created regular chances throughout the first half but couldn't really capitalize on any chances. Martinelli got himself into great positions to score, always managed to hit the ball straight to the keeper in the opening minutes of the first 45 minutes.

Havertz was provided with a nice opportunity of just tapping the ball inside the goal through a nice layoff by Saka but couldn't make it happen due to excessive pressure on him by Danilo. Havertz was getting into nice positions but was unable to apply the finishing touches.

After a minute or so, Raul Jimenez was very close to extending Fulham's lead through a brilliant acrobatic kick but the score remained 1-0 to Arsenal's relief. Wilson also tried his luck from distance but his shot was wide too.

In the 31st minute of the game, Saka missed the goal from close proximity with his head and failed to equalise for Arsenal. Just at the brink of halftime, Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard tried his luck from 25 yards but the ball was hit straight to Berd Leno.

Fulham managed to hold their defensive shape well in the first 45 minutes of the game to deny Arsenal any kind of clear goal scoring opportunities except Saka's header inside the 6 yard box which bounced over the goal.

Second Half

In the start of the second half Arteta brought on Nketiah for Trossard hoping to make a difference in the match. Fulham never really got going in the second half which gave Arsenal the chance to push them to the very end.

It was the same story as before, Arsenal couldn't really come up with any finishing touches in the box which led them to the same scoreline as it was from the second minute of the game. Arsenal made two more substitutions which really made an impact on the game. He brought in Viera for Havertz and Zinchenko for Partey.

Since they come on, Arsenal became more fluid in the midfield with the traditional back 4 formation. Odegaard, to his standards missed an easy chance after a few minutes but the crowd could feel that there was a different energy around this Arsenal side.

In the 67th minute of the game, the opportunity finally presented itself to Arsenal through a penalty. Fabio Viera was brought down in the box by Tete and the referee pointed to the spot. Saka, whose initial mistake gave Fulham the advantage, scored the penalty in the opposite direction of where the keeper went and equalised for Arsenal.

Just after 2 minutes, Eddie Nketiah put the ball inside the again for Arsenal through a beautiful assist by Fabio Viera. Fulham couldn't contemplate what had happened because it happened so fast and through a series of quick passes by the Arsenal players.

In the 83rd minute, things went from bad to worst for Fulham. Calvin Bassey who was already on a yellow card, stopped an Arsenal counter attack by fouling Eddie Nketiah and picked up the second yellow card of the match and got sent off.

But from no hope whatsoever, Fulham from a scrappy corner was able to score and make it 2-2 in the 87th minute of the game, thanks to Fulham's best player on the pitch Joao Palhinha.

After that it was mostly Arsenal who tried to breakthrough the lines of a stubborn Fulham defense but was unable to do so, although Fulham was also presented with a golden opportunity to win the match but Traore's effort was saved by Ramsdale and the score remained 2-2.

At the end of the match, the Arsenal players were visibly disappointed as it was theirs to win but the effort which Fulham showed in the match was extraordinary and a point was nothing less than what they deserved from the match.