Arsenal Analysed: Secrets to our Fulham success | Analysis | News

A dominant first half saw us defeat Fulham 3-0 at Emirates Stadium to move us six points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

Viktor Gyokeres bagged a double with Bukayo Saka also netting on a fine afternoon in north London. But how did we dismantle the Cottagers?

Tactical guru Adrian Clarke is on hand to take a look at the finer details from our success over the west London outfit.

MYLES’ MIDFIELD MASTERCLASS

In his first senior start for club or country as a central midfielder, 19-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly was simply outstanding in a double pivot role alongside Declan Rice.

Doing the simple things, calmly and with great assurance, the Hale End academy graduate revelled in the opportunity to impress in a position he excelled in for the club’s junior sides.

His distribution was top class. Completing a very impressive 97% of his passes (64 of 66), the teenager kept the side ticking along beautifully.

As you can see on this chalkboard below, Lewis-Skelly simply bossed the central domain, showing great effectiveness down the spine of the pitch.

The youngster also played a key role with his defensive acumen.

Winning six ball recoveries and seven of his 11 duels, Lewis-Skelly showcased his physicality and positional awareness very well.

Press-resistant and able to use his body quite magnificently to manoeuvre out of tight situations, he also won four free kicks for fouls made on him.

It was a gamble from Arteta to try out Lewis-Skelly in this role, so late on in the season and with the stakes so incredibly high, but the managers’ decision was well and truly vindicated.

He played brilliantly to elevate our engine room.

GYOKERES LED TO THE LINE WITH DISTINCTION

Directly involved in three goals in the same match, for the first time in our colours, Viktor Gyokeres became only the second Gunners star to score 20+ goals (21) in all competitions in his debut season for us this century.

Alexis Sanchez (25 goals) in 2014/15 was the other player to achieve that feat.

Throughout his 68 minutes on the pitch, Gyokeres ran Fulham’s central defenders ragged with his intelligent, but forceful movement.

Always looking to spin in behind, he frightened the life out of Danish defender Joachim Andersen in particular.

Making a team-high 23 sprints, despite coming off with half an hour left to play, our summer signing was a constant handful.

This superbly timed run, in behind Fulham’s rearguard, was typical of Gyokeres’ quality movement.

Eberechi Eze deserves credit for seeing the run and for making a quality forward pass, and from this piece of play the Swede set up Bukayo Saka to score our vital second goal.

MARVELLOUS MOVEMENT

One of the standout traits against Fulham, was our dynamic, positive movement.

To break down any rival you must always make runs that stretch your opponents, and we did that to brilliant effect.

All over the pitch, players wearing red shirts tested their direct markers with searching forward runs, which made us very hard to play against.

The most inventive piece of movement came from Bukayo Saka ahead of our second goal.

Responding to Gyokeres’ initial run (image above) he made a straight supporting run that was watched closely by left back Antonee Robinson, who scanned over his shoulder four times to make sure he knew where our number 7 was.

Then, at the very last moment Saka ducked inside him with the smartest of blind side runs, catching the American off guard in spectacular fashion.

He was fed perfectly by Gyokeres and went on to score.

This astute sprint into space beyond Fulham’s left back is another example of quality choices we made when it came to penetrating runs.

Declan Rice’s mind was made up by the timing of Saka’s movement, and from this situation, Eze had a shot blocked just in front of the goal.

The electric runs we made inside the final third helped us be a potent attacking force.

In this match we equalled our season best return of nine shots on target, while also racking up 3.23 expected goals; the best figure we have had in 2025/26.

DELICIOUS DELIVERIES FROM TROSSARD

With no Premier League goals and just a single top-flight assist to his name in 2026 it has been a challenging spell for Leandro Trossard, but the Belgian was back on top form against the Cottagers.

Firing off four shots, he played with great intent throughout, and although he did not score, Trossard’s influence on this contest was strong.

His most eye-catching contribution came on stroke of half-time when he carried the ball 50 yards at speed on a purposeful counter attack, before clipping a perfect cross for Gyokeres to head home with aplomb.

It was a wonderful assist from Trossard, who was bright and bubbly throughout, keeping the ball for the team with 92% pass accuracy too.

Earlier on he had been frustrated to see another assist chalked off for offside against Riccardo Calafiori.

His beautifully flighted cross was perfect, and the Italian headed home in style, only to see VAR rule out the strike.

Later on, Trossard almost supplied Gyokeres with a hat-trick goal too, surging down the middle before slipping a cute through ball for the Swede to latch onto.

This was a welcome return to form for the Belgium international, who showed his class.

SAKA MARKED MILESTONE IN STYLE

Bukayo Saka’s 200th Premier League start could not have gone much better.

The fourth youngest player to reach that mark, his goal and assist meant the England international has now been directly involved in 150 goals (80 goals, 70 assists) for us in all competitions.

His assist against Fulham was one of the best you will see all season.

Identifying that our opponents’ set piece marking plans left striker Raul Jimenez on the outside, effectively picking up Saka, we deliberately played a free kick short in order to isolate our winger in a 1v1 with the Mexican.

It was shrewd planning from us, as the front man was put in a real predicament, with Saka twisting and turning in style to leave Jimenez on the turf.

And then, in trademark fashion, Saka’s decision-making was faultless when it mattered most, whipping a perfect low ball across the face of the goal for Gyokeres to slam home.

Having missed several games in recent weeks it was fabulous to see our captain on the day, produce such a quality display.

Replaced at half-time, it feels almost certain that Saka will now start against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.