Arsenal cruised to a comfortable
4-0 victory over Fulham to clinch third place and automatic
qualification into the Champions League.
Goals from Andrey Arshavin, Robin van Persie, an own goal from Chris
Baird and a delightful chip by Carlos Vela were enough to dismiss a
largely disinterested Fulham, although it did not start that way.
- Arsenal 4-0 Fulham
With just one win in their last eight matches, and north London
rivals Spurs waiting to take advantage of another slip, the Gunners
could not afford to relax on the last day of the season.
Fulham on the other hand, with a trip to Hamburg on their minds,
were able to rest a host of first-choice players. Roy Hodgson's side
however did not show any early signs that they would lay down.
Perhaps with places up for grabs for this Wednesday's Europa Cup
Final, the Cottagers were making a game of it.
There were some early moments of anxiety for the Gunners,
principally when Lukasz Fabianski failed to deal with a cross
convincingly, sparking shouts of "Wenger spend some money".
Van Persie looked sharp at the other end. His inswinging free-kick
from the right tested Mark Schwarzer who managed to parry the ball to
safety just before the balled dipped into the net. Samir Nasri also
tested the Australian keeper, who pushed the effort around his right
post.
The Fulham number one went from hero to villain moments later
though. He came out to meet a back-pass and mis-controlled the ball
allowing Arshavin to nip in and steal possession.
The Russian cut in to the left side of the area before firing in a
shot from an acute angle with the defenders on the line unable to
prevent the powerful shot from finishing in the back of the net.
The Gunners went 2-0 up in the 26th minute when an Emmanuel Eboue
pass beat the offside trap allowing Theo Walcott to leave a flat-footed
defence in his wake before squaring the ball for van Persie.
The Dutch striker's first shot was half-saved by Schwarzer, but the
ball bounced back off the bottom side of the bar for van Persie to
calmly place the ball beyond the grounded keeper. Fulham's heads visibly
dropped.
Baird's own goal in the 38th minute made it 3-0 to Arsenal. Eboue's
back-flick from Walcott's cross threw the Fulham defence into disarray.
With van Persie bearing down on goal, Baird stuck a leg out and
inadvertently directed the ball past his own keeper.
Another Eboue back-flick from van Persie's pass put Walcott in on
goal, but the World Cup hopeful failed to test the keeper when through
on goal on the right side of the area and he dragged his shot wide of
the left post.
The Gunners went close to going 4-0 up just four minutes after the
re-start when Bacary Sagna's cross from the right was met on the volley
by van Persie but Schwarzer spread himself well to make a point-blank
save. The rebound fell to the Dutchman whose snap-shot hit the left post
before bouncing away to safety.
Carlos Vela came off the bench to make it 4-0 in the 84th minute.
The Mexican ran on to Nasri's throughball before lifting the ball over
the oncoming keeper to
Match reports
- Bolton
v Birmingham
- Burnley
v Tottenham
- Chelsea
v Wigan
- Manchester
United v Stoke
- West
Ham v Manchester City
- Hull
City v Liverpool
- Everton
v Portsmouth
- Wolves
v Sunderland
- Aston
Villa v Blackburn Rovers
Relevant links
- Premier
League table
- Premier
League results
Source: DSG