“The three of them cost Arsenal the win and made it easier for us to penetrate their defense”- Arsenal ex player Williams names THREE Arsenal players who were very ‘dreadful’ and made it easy for Fulham to spank Arsenal’s ass

3 players who cost Arsenal the most against Fulham

December 31, 2023

After a ghastly 2-0 defeat to West Ham, Arsenal were expected to rebound in a big way on Sunday afternoon against Fulham. It seemed like they would, too, after an early go-ahead goal from superstar winger Bukayo Saka.

However, Arsenal lost control of the game, surrendering two goals to the Cottagers without any sort of a response.

In some ways, it was an even more dreadful performance than the one against West Ham, because, in the second half, the Gunners created so little to threaten the Fulham goal.

Here are three players who cost Arsenal the most in this road defeat.

LW Gabriel Martinelli

Another poor performance from the star left winger, as Gabriel Martinelli made so many fundamental positional and passing errors that led to transition attacks for Fulham.

The effort is there for Martinelli, but the quality hasn’t been this week. Martinelli created just one chance before being hooked off just after the hour mark, and he wasn’t even sprightly in his one-on-one duels.

Arsenal need their star left winger to come up with that something special and add an additional goal threat. His lack of sharpness is just as big of an issue as the poor finishing from the strikers. The wingers must do more in this system.

ST Eddie Nketiah

Eddie Nketiah was non-existent for much of the match against Fulham, and you have to squint at his numbers in order to believe that he actually was on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.

It’s hard to remember what Nketiah did positively on the pitch. He drew some fouls but was a passenger on the field. Nketiah is a good all-around striker, but he didn’t even create any chances or have any lively dribbles on the ball.

Arsenal are going to need more from their 24-year-old striker. Nketiah is entering his peak years as a key part of the Arsenal rotation in the Premier League title race, so it is fair to expect a higher standard of play from him.