Mannone thrilled with superb display

Gunners' third choice Mannone denied Andrew Johnson, Clint Dempsey and substitute Zoltan Gera with a number of impressive stops.And his saves proved decisive after Robin van Persie's 53rd-minute goal settled the match at Craven Cottage.Asked if it was the best performance of his career, 21-year-old Mannone told ESPN: "I would say yes, when you play like that in the first team."You have to take your opportunity. I think I did it tonight and I'm happy with the three points, it was a great win."We all enjoyed it. It was a great performance by the team and the group showed a lot of solidarity."Van Persie said: "It was very, very hard - I'm really glad we won today. "Fulham played really well and we had a fantastic keeper today - he played the best game of his life and I'm really happy for him."Asked about the advice of Arsene Wenger at half-time, the Dutchman added: "He told us to play a bit sharper on the second balls and the goal would come. Eight minutes after the goal came, so the boss was right."Wenger himself said: "We could have scored more but I believe Fulham had chances - the goalkeeper kept us a clean sheet today."Vito is a young keeper with talent and he has shown it today. It's only one game but it's good for his confidence."Overall it was a highly committed game and we needed to be special to come away with three points."At half-time I said what we were producing was not enough to win the game - we had to correct a few things tactically."I'm very happy because we've played six games, four times away. Overall I believe the attitude and spirit in the side makes me very positive about this season."Asked for his thoughts on Chelsea's shock defeat at Wigan, the Frenchman added: "Everybody can drop points away from home and we've seen it today."Fulham boss Roy Hodgson admitted he could not criticise his players, despite a third defeat in six days.After 2-1 reverses at Wolves in the league and Manchester City in the Carling Cup, Hodgson was pleased with his team's performance.He said on ESPN: "I thought we played well - at 0-0 I was rather hoping we could get something from the game."We came across a goalkeeper in splendid form and a determined Arsenal team - and overall we can count ourselves unlucky not to get something from the game."It's always seconds in football, an inspired moment, a chance taken, as opposed to a chance missed."But it was a good performance over the 95 minutes, I can't fault the effort or quality of our play but they showed their quality in the penalty box can be a decisive factor when it's a close game."It's three defeats in a week but I see Wednesday as a triumph, losing in extra-time to Manchester City with players who don't play in the first team."We played so well today, it bodes well for the future."Every time you lose it's not easy to put a brave face on it but I'm not as disappointed as I was last week (Wolves), when I thought our performance merited a defeat."

Source: Team_Talk