Willian sparkles for the rampant Gunners
FULHAM 0 ARSENAL 3
Lacazette (9), Gabriel (49), Aubameyang (57)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta paid tribute to debutants Willian and Gabriel after they starred in the win over Fulham.
Willian finished his first Gunners match with three assists and Gabriel headed Arsenal’s second goal to start his career with the club in ideal fashion and make it a dream start to the Premier League season for the Gunners.
Fulham’s top-flight return was a tough one and they fell behind inside 10 minutes when Alexandre Lacazette gave the visitors the lead.
“It was really good,” Arteta said when asked about the new boys’ performances.
“Obviously for Willian, he knows the league, the country and is very settled here so I knew his performance would settle straight away.
“For Gabriel it was a big challenge for him today to come in. He hadn’t played any football in the last six months and he had a terrific performance.”
The Spaniard added: “Ideally I wanted to give him some time because he only trained for a few days with the team and physically hasn’t played a competitive match for six months, so obviously it was a risk of injury as well.
“But credit to him, he performed well, physically he felt really good and he was very happy to play.”
Arsenal passion was in evidence before the kick-off when Eddie Nketiah and Dani Ceballos clashed in the warm-up, a late challenge led to the two squaring up and needing to be separated. When the game kicked off the pair took their seats at opposite ends of the substitutes’ bench. However, when asked about the incident, Arteta said: “I haven’t seen anything, sorry, I was inside.”
Fulham did not have to wait long for their first chance in the Premier League when Aboubakar Kamara almost capitalised on an Arsenal mistake at the back, but Bernd Leno was able to gather the ball.
The hosts also had the first shot on target of the match, with Denis Odoi running down the right before taking a shot, but his effort was a straightforward take for Leno.
Moments later Arsenal scored following a scramble in the Fulham box, Lacazette reacted quickest to tap the ball past Marek Rodak and open his account for the season.
A ball over the top was not dealt with by the Fulham defence, Aubameyang crossed the ball in before Granit Xhaka scuffed a shot, Marek Rodak made a save, but the ball fell into the path of Lacazette.
In the 26th minute, Willian came close