Emery wins his battle with boos
MOST people have suffered on New Year’s Day from a huge volume of boos – but Arsenal manager Unai Emery took just three minutes to find the perfect cure.
His decision to replace the bubbly Alexandre Lacazette with the comparatively mild Aaron Ramsey with 15 minutes to go was met with open hostility from a large number of the supporters frustrated by Arsenal’s inability to kill off this game.
Three minutes later, when Sead Kolasinac’s cross was diverted onto the post by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, guess who was in the perfect place to fire home for 3-1 and make it safe?
So not only did Emery avoid a hangover after three defeats in five games but in the end his side produced a scoreline to see in 2019 with a bang.
“In Emery We Trust” may yet become the maxim at the Emirates, but there was little sign of it yesterday as the home fans took against their manager as Fulham threatened to come back into a game Arsenal had pretty much bossed.
Part of the problem had been a rare Aubameyang shocker in front of goal.
Arsenal’s top scorer might already have had a hat-trick before he finally added a late chaser of a goal with a 15-yard drive which deflected kindly off Tim Ream.
“I understand the fans but I need to do my work,” said Emery. “Every supporter can have a different opinion on what tactically we can do. In my career I have different moments when I made similar decisions. We need to have more information to do that.
“We need also to decide with a very cold mind in order to make the best decision.”
With the transfer window open and Ramsey out of contract at the end of the season, any goal now could be his last.
But Emery, who denied there had been a conversation about a loan bid for Chelsea’s Gary Cahill, said: “He worked very well in Liverpool. Today he played 15 minutes and he scored and helped us for confidence and to earn a good result. I want this focus from him when he’s playing.
“At the moment he’s working with us and I think, yes, he’ll be here until the summer.”
For all the superiority of class the Gunners enjoyed in the attacking third, it was that defence of theirs that was causing consternation around the ground.
Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon could have scored twice before Arsenal got off the mark as his pace undid a back three of Laurent Koscielny, Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi.
Fulham were having their own defensive problems and Granit Xhaka was the one to take advantage almost immediately after Sessegnon’s second miss.
His run left Tom Cairney standing and when Denis Odoi failed to cut out Alex Iwobi’s cross, the Arsenal midfielder had time to take the ball on his chest and steer it past keeper Sergio Rico.
Early in the second half Lacazette drilled the ball into the net for 2-0 but cue the unthinkable as Fulham threatened to turn the game on its head.
Lucas Torreira lost the ball in midfield and it was fed eventually to Sessegnon, whose ball across the six-yard area reached Aboubakar Kamara at the far post.
Three days ago Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri had said he “wanted to kill” the Frenchman after he refused to give the ball to designated penalty-taker Aleksandar Mitrovic and then proceeded to miss the spot-kick.
This time Kamara’s finish was unerring.
Ramsey’s late pick-me-up seemed more than enough to ensure Arsenal fans’ glasses were back to half full.
Kamara apologised to his manager and the club after Saturday’s howler and Ranieri said: “The incident is finished and I bear no grudges.
“I still want to kill him, but only softly. My players are like a son to me so I will kill him but then give him oxygen.”
ARSENAL (3-4-3): Leno 6; Mustafi 5 (Torreira 46, 5), Sokratis 5, Koscielny 5; Maitland-Niles 6, Guendouzi 7, Xhaka 7, Kolasinac 8; Lacazette 8 (Ramsey 75, 6), Aubameyang 7, Iwobi 7 (Saka 83). Goals: Xhaka 25, Lacazette 55, Ramsey 78, Aubameyang 84. NEXT UP: Blackpool (a), Sat FAC. FULHAM (3-4-3): Rico 6; Odoi 5, Le Marchand 5, Ream 6; Christie 6 (Fosu-Mensah 56, 6), Cairney 6, Cisse 5 (Seri 61, 5), Bryan 6; Sessegnon 6, Mitrovic 6, Schurrle 5 (Kamara 61, 6). Booked: Fosu-Mensah. Goal: Kamara 69. NEXT UP: Oldham (h), Sun FAC. Referee: G Scott (Oxfordshire).