pSLOPPY Arsenal surrendered their 100 percent start to the season as ten-man Fulham snatched a dramatic late equaliser to leave Mikel Arteta fuming./p
pJoao Palhinha swept home Harrison Reed’s 87th minute corner just when it was beginning to look as though the Gunners were going to pull off another of their famous comeback victories./p
figure id=attachment_23667628 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/joao-palhinha-fulham-celebrates-scoring-840358253.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23667628 width=960 height=640 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditGetty/figcredit/figureJoao Palhinha#8217;s volley earned Fulham a share of the points[/caption]
figure id=attachment_23667759 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-arsenals-declan-rice-reacts-840358370-1.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23667759 width=960 height=645 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditReuters/figcredit/figureThe draw means Arsenal have lost their 100% winning start to the season[/caption]
pAnd that point was the least the visitors deserved as they were denied a famous first ever away win against their illustrious London rivals./p
pIt certainly helped to lift the spirits of a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1225801/fulham/Fulham/a boss a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/marco-silva/Marco Silva/a, who was raging whennbsp;refnbsp;Paul Tierney allowed a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/eddie-nketiah/Eddie Nketiah/a to fire a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196653/arsenal/Arsenal/a into a 72nd minute lead while a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/calvin-bassey/Calvin Bassey/a was lying injured in the penalty area./p
pAnd Nketiah took full advantage of Bassey’s absence to convert an absolute peach of a pass from fellow sub Fabio Vieira./p
pSo when Bassey received a second yellow card for blocking Nketiah, it looked like curtains for the luckless visitors./p
pThey had already conceded a 70th minute penalty after Vieira had been wiped out by Kenny Tete’s rash challenge./p
pa href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/bukayo-saka/Bukayo Saka/a had actually surrendered spot-kick duties to skipper a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/martin-odegaard/Martin Odegaard/a during Monday’s 1-0 win at a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196666/crystal-palace/Crystal Palace/a./p
pHe had missed from 12 yards against both a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196655/west-ham/West Ham/a and a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196670/aston-villa/Aston Villa/a last season and again against a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1232720/barcelona/Barcelona/a in pre-season./p
pBut this time the young a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196702/england/England/a star made no mistake as he sent a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/bernd-leno/Bernd Leno/a the wrong way to make amends for gifting Fulham their first minute lead./p
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pThe game had barely kicked-off before an intricate series of Arsenal passes broke down when Saka inexplicably played the ball straight to a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/andreas-pereira/Andreas Pereira/a./p
pKeeper a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/aaron-ramsdale/Aaron Ramsdale/a was caught in no-man’s land and appeared to slip as he tried to get back in his goal, leaving Pereira the time and space to roll his shot inside the near post with just 58 seconds on the clock./p
pThe fact that right-back a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/thomas-partey/Thomas Partey/a had already pushed into midfield and was nowhere to be seen when Saka’s pass went astray down his flank only compounded Arteta’s anger as he watched on from his technical area./p
pIt was the worst possible start to Saka’s club record 83rd consecutive Premier League appearance and a rare error from the young England star./p
pBut it was by no means the first time Arsenal had found themselves trailing within the first minute./p
pThey conceded even quicker goals to Bournemouth and Southampton at the Emirates last season and didn’t lose either game./p
pSo there was no immediate sense of panic among the crowd as they sat back and waited for the customary comeback./p
pIt should have arrived in the 11th minute when Saka returned Leandro Trossard’s deep cross into the danger zone, but the stretching a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/kai-havertz/Kai Havertz/a somehow managed to hook his shot wide from three yards out./p
pThe jury is still very much out on the £65million German international, who is currentlynbsp; dividing opinion among the Emirates regulars more than any other player./p
pAnd he didn’t do himself any favours when he was unable to apply a finishing touch to another Saka teaser rolled right across the face of goal./p
pFormer Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno added to the general air of frustration with a smart low save from a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/gabriel-martinelli/Gabriel Martinelli/a before the young Brazilian was foiled again by Raul Jimenez’s crucial block./p
pFulham’s Mexican striker still wears a protective headband as a permanent reminder of the horrific fractured skull he suffered at the Emirates in November 2020./p
pHe has never been the same player since and returned to the scene of that gruesome accident on the back of a run of 25 League games without a goal./p
pBut he almost ended that unwanted sequence when he pounced on Ben White’s poor header to send a 22nd minute scissor kick looping just the wrong side of the far post./p
pAbsolutely nothing was going right for the Gunners, with even captain Martin Odegaard misplacing routine passes as Fulham dug in to protect their lead./p
pEven £105million a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/declan-rice/Declan Rice/a was being put to shame by the impressive Palhinha at the heart of the visitors’ midfield. /p
pQuite how he is still at Fulham is a mystery./p
pArteta’s face was almost as dark as the rain bucketing down as he stormed down the tunnel at the half-time whistle ready to deliver a few home truths to his sloppy stars./p
pAnd it was only with the introduction of Nketiah and Vieira that tdhe momentum finally started to turn their way./p
pFulham, though, absolutely refused to surrender to their fate and could even have won this thrilling derby when a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/adama-traore/Adama Traore/a raced the length of the pitch deep into stoppage time only to see his shot hit Ramsdale flush in the face./p
pIt was probably no more than Arsenal deserved on the overall balance of play, but having struggled to win their opening games against a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1225889/nottingham-forest/Nottingham Forest/a and Palace, it’s beginning to look as though last season’s lack of a cutting edge has still to be resolved./p
p class=has-text-align-centerstronga href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/23449626/arsenal-transfer-news-live-david-raya-updates/ARSENAL TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: Stay up to date with all the latest transfer news and rumours/a from the Emirates/strong/p
