The victory takes them back to the top of the English Premier League, a position they held for just a couple of hours a week ago. This time around, the reign will be rather longer as Manchester United’s match at Blackpool was postponed due to a frozen pitch and Chelsea dropped points at home to Everton.
Fulham haven’t managed a win away to Arsenal in over a century and it looked like business as usual when the in-form Nasri scored a wonderful goal after 13 minutes. In fact that would have been his second but for a fine save by Mark Schwarzer a few minutes earlier.
Everyone associated with Fulham will be overjoyed that the veteran Australian international has signed a new contract and will be staying at Craven Cottage. His presence will be crucial to Fulham’s survival in the top flight.
If Arsenal fans expected the flood gates to open they were to be disappointed. While Nasri and Arshevin were at times doing things that took one’s breath away, the team as a whole was not really convincing as a unit.
The lack of understanding in the Arsenal defense was glaringly evident when Sebastien Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny both went for the same ball and smashed into each other. Clint Dempsey picked up the loose ball and put it in the path of Diomansy Kamara, who happily accepted the opportunity to tie things up. Koscielny, meanwhile, had to be carried off injured.
Fulham remained in contention and both sides missed chances. With Arsenal unable to dominate as they would have liked, they might well have had to settle for a point had it not been for another sublime piece of Nasri magic. It was one of those goals for which no verbal description can ever be adequate, but let me say that George Best would have been proud to score that one.
Chelsea Drop Points Again
Chelsea Manager Carlo Ancelotti told EPL website reporters that he was "disappointed and angry" with his team’s 1-1 draw at home to Everton, and two more points dropped in the championship race.
Everton set a cracking pace at Stamford Bridge and were obviously resolved to prevent Chelsea finding their rhythm. Nonetheless, the home team could have grabbed the lead when a shot from returning skipper John Terry hit the bar.
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