Arsenal 3 - 1 Fulham

True to form Arsenal made it much harder on themselves than was necessary, and when Fulham pulled level with twelve minutes to go, one could hear every Arsenal supporter in the world sighing, “Here we go again.”

However, after a torrid six minutes of Fulham attacks, Cesc Fabregas again made his case for Player of the Year. In a classic example of counter-attack, Cesc’s cutting through ball found an on-rushing Emmanuel Adebayor, whose brilliantly placed curled shot beat a diving Niemi to restore the Arsenal lead.

A few minutes later, Alex Hleb drew a careless foul from former Gunner Moritz Volz to earn a penalty, which acting-captain “Gilbo” Gilberto converted with aplomb.

It was by no means an easy game to watch, but then, those have been few and far between this season. Next up are Chelski, who visit the Grove desperate for points to stay within reach of ManUre in the race for the Premiership title. It should be a “cracker”.

Kickoff is 11AM ET next Sunday, the 6th, and Fox Soccer Channel will provide live coverage here in the US.