Arsenal’s belief in Unai Emery grows as Gunners extend winning run to nine matches with 5-1 Fulham mauling

‘We’ve got our Arsenal back’ cried the away support after witnessing an Aaron Ramsey goal that was reminiscent of the swashbuckling early years of Arsene Wenger’s reign.

Unai Emery’s own time at the club is in its infancy but his influence, even at this stage, is indelible and he can take great satisfaction from how quickly the squad has absorbed his ideas.
The Gunners will certainly have tougher days but their 5-1 win at Craven Cottage was their ninth win in a row in all competitions.

Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring after half an hour played when he swivelled on Nacho Monreal’s cross and fired past a helpless Marcus Bettinelli.

The Gunners’ slack passing out from the back handed Fulham a route back into the match with Luciano Vietto pouncing on Nacho Monreal’s poor pass to play in Andre Schurrle for an equaliser just before the break.

However, the Gunners were too strong for Fulham and second half goals from Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang [x2] and a goal of the season contender from Ramsey confirmed the victory.

Lacazette struck twice at Craven Cottage (Picture: Getty)

The Gunners arrived back in London early on Friday morning following their 3-0 win against Qarabag against Azerbaijan and Emery, breaking with tradition from Arsene Wenger’s tenure, gave his squad the day off to recover.
That decision looked to be paying dividends in the early stages with the Gunners looking crisp and inventive in possession, especially through Henrikh Mkhtiaryan and Alexandre Lacazette.

Emery’s decision to bench Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang raised some eyebrows but his replacement, Danny Welbeck, was causing all sorts of problems for Fulham’s defence and the England forward went close to playing in Lacazette for a certain goal if not for a last-ditch tackle from Tim Ream.

Fulham, though, were far too open and paid on the half-an-hour mark when Iwobi slipped in Nacho Monreal down the left flank and the Spaniard picked out Lacazette in the middle, who swivelled brilliantly before smashing home past Marcus Bettinelli.

Lacazette sought out Aubameyang to celebrate his first (Picture: Getty)

However, Arsenal were creating problems of their own at the back with Rob Holding and Monreal in particular guilty of slack pieces of play in possession.

Much has been made of Emery’s tactics since arriving at the club as the Spaniard tasks his team with playing out from the back in a fashion that even Wenger didn’t demand.

It’s clear he’ll not waiver in his belief that this is the way forward for Arsenal but mistakes, as Monreal provided a minute before half-time, are inevitable until Emery can get the players he wants to suit his philosophy.

Monreal played a sloppy pass down the left that was cut out by Luciano Vietto and the Argentine played in Andre Schurrle to lob over the onrushing Bernd Leno to equalise.

Schurrle got Fulham back in it (Picture: Getty)

It was a deserved equaliser given the balance of play but both side’s openness meant more goals were inevitable and Arsenal retook the lead shortly after the restart when Lacazette found the bottom left hand corner with a powerful strike from a Welbeck knockdown.

Bettinelli will feel he could have done better but Lacazette’s decision to take the strike early caught him off guard.
Lacazette’s second gave Arsenal more confidence and they gave themselves a two-goal cushion twenty minutes from time with one of the team goals of the season.