LONDON, England
Arsenal pushed themselves six points clear at the top of the Premier League with a dominant victory over Fulham at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening. A Viktor Gyökeres brace and a first goal in eight appearances for Bukayo Saka were enough to seal the win.
Just like last weekend, the Gunners opened the scoring after nine minutes. However, unlike that 1-0 win against Newcastle seven days earlier, Mikel Arteta’s side continued to push forward after netting first and put Fulham to the sword.
It was Gyökeres who scored the opener this time around, prodding into the net from close range after excellent work from Saka. The England forward twisted Raúl Jiménez in knots on the right before firing in a low cross for his teammate to convert.
Much-maligned since for much of 2025-26 signing in the summer from Sporting CP, Gyökeres’ goal took him to 20 in all competitions at Arsenal.
That made him the first player to net 20+ goals across all competitions in their first season for the club since Alexis Sánchez in 2014-15 (25 goals). The only other player to his 20+ goals for Arsenal in their debut season at the club in the Premier League era was Thierry Henry in 1999-00 (26).
The Gunners thought they’d doubled their advantage on the half-hour mark, but Riccardo Calafiori had stepped into an offside position when Leandro Trossard crossed into the box before the Italian headed into the net.
They did make it 2-0 five minutes from half-time, though, with Saka turning from provider to scorer and Gyökeres doing the opposite. A clever pass inside from the Swede was met by Saka, who ran into the box and smashed the ball into the back of the net past Bernd Leno. That goal was Saka’s 150th goal involvement across all competitions (80 goals, 70 assists).
Arsenal added a third before half-time, with Gyökeres scoring his second of the day. Brilliant work from Trossard on the left saw him break into the box before a lofted cross into the centre was met by Gyökeres’s head.
It ended a truly dominant first-half display from Arsenal, who fired 14 shots at the Fulham goal while restricting the away side to only two shots from long range. It was the first time that they’d been three goals ahead at half-time in a Premier League match since November 2024 vs West Ham.
With the game won inside the opening 45 minutes, Arsenal took their foot off the gas in the second half and saved their legs. Marco Silva’s side may have attempted twice as many shots as the home side in the second half but can’t really claim to have laid a glove on them.
For Fulham, their horrendous record away at Arsenal continues. That’s now 33 away trips to their London rivals without a win across their league history (L26 D7) – the most any side has faced another without victory in away games across English Football League history.
Arsenal’s six-point lead over Man City does come with the crucial caveat of Pep Guardiola’s side having two games in hand – the first of which is away at Everton on Monday night.
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