Fulham away is always a favourite away game for many - nearby, and without the risk of bodily harm from home fans, it is usually a great day out. Last season's game was an absolute and total disaster, though, so at least things could only get better than that. Being on a Saturday at 3pm, a sellout of the away end was guaranteed, so it was a shame that Fulham elected to take the piss by charging £45 a ticket - I thought they were a nice club! £45 to sit (or, thankfully, stand as it turned out) on a stand made of scaffolding, with a bloody great pillar in the way, isn't great - but then hopefully they won't be able to get away with it next season, as Championship games cost less to get into.Fulham have been struggling massively of late, which kind of serves them right for getting rid of a good manager in Chris Coleman at the end of last season. Without a win for a couple of months, and having recently appointed Roy Hodgson as their manager, they have looked pretty lightweight, pretty weak, and pretty inept over recent weeks. And so it turned out today. They do have some decent players, capable of playing some nice, skilful football. But they are just too lightweight - Arsenal's players were bigger, stronger, and better, in every department, and by some distance.
A good start, with some decent passing moves, got even better on 19 minutes when Emmanuel Adebayor rose above the Fulham defence to meet a cross from the very impressive Clichy on the left. Being 6'4", the Fulham defence was no match for him, and the keeper didn't even move as the ball sailed into the net. Thank God that Togo didn't qualify for the African Nations Cup, as that is where he would be at the moment, instead of scoring goals for Arsenal. More domination for the next 20 minutes, and Adebayor added the second shortly before half time. The second was a deserved goal in a couple of ways - Fabregas having been clattered by Danny Murphy in an unpunished and very late tackle as the move first began.
So, Arsenal were 2-0 up at half time, without really having expended much energy, but they were still comfortably better and stronger than Fulham. The second half was more of the same - Arsenal in total domination, but not really bothering to do all that much to press the advantage home - they just didn't need to. Finally, and after a couple of near misses in the 5 or 10 minutes leading up to it, the excellent Tomas Rosicky finished a good move, to make it 3-0. That was how it finished, and the three points were of course most welcome. It was one of the easier wins of the season, the gap between Arsenal and Fulham was huge, and you can really see why Fulham are struggling at the wrong end of the table. Sadly, Manchester United and Chelsea also won, both winning their games late on, after looking like they may be struggling - but never mind, it made Arsenal's win all the more important.
I said that Fulham was a good away game, and off the pitch, it was a great day out too. Lots of familiar faces (everybody and anybody seemed to have turned out), Arsenal fans filled the Putney End, stood up all game, and made an almighty racket. The Fulham fans, in response, made no noise, and no effort at all - they may as well not have been there. The singing was loud and constant, and the second half had the air of a near religious experience. Early in the second half, a song started quietly on the left hand side of the stand - Adebayor, Adebayo-o-or, Give him the ball, and he will score. It gradually spread, taking about 10 minutes to have the whole stand singing it quietly, then the quiet singing gradually turned to loud singing. Once that had caught on, people sang little else for the rest of the day - amazing to see a song start and spread like that. It had been sung at previous away games recently, but really came of age today - and it is a good tribute to a great player.A good day all round today, an easy win in all respects really, and important to get back onto the right track after the disappointment of the Birmingham game last week. Now, we have 2 cup games in a row again - the second leg of the Carling Cup game against Spurs, followed by Newcastle in the FA Cup. Hopefully, the run of not losing to Spurs will continue - I would happily see us go out of the FA Cup in return. We'll see.
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