The Tanner Report: Fulham 1 Arsenal 1
In a spirited performance Fulham held a superior Arsenal side though from the commentary and coverage on Sky you would not have thought so.
After braving the elements, traffic and transport problems last Thursday it was a case of staying in the warm and watching this match on Sky.
Their panel of so-called and self -styled experts included Paul Merson (‘Merse’ to his colleagues) whose inarticulacy could not disguise his Arsenal bias.
Heaven forbid that Sky might have included ex-Cottagers Tony Gale or Mark Schwarzer – both articulate, well-informed and forensic analysts.
Heaven forbid that someone might comment that Fulham had lost key players in Pahlinha, Tim Ream, Willian, Bobby DeCordova-Reed, Tosin and Jay Stansfield at the start of the season but still occupy a position in the top half of the Premiership – or that Marco Silva is a better coach in terms of achievement then either Ruben Amorim or Ange Postacoglou.
Chris Sutton, the analyst alongside chief commentator Bill Leslie, had almost nothing positive to say about Fulham who actually took the lead through Raul Jimenez. True, Arsenal had injuries – three of their normal back four were unavailable – but so were Harrison Reed, Tom Cairney, and – crucially – defensive organiser Joachim Andersen out for Fulham.
When the Arsenal equaliser went to the dreaded VAR I knew that Arsenal would be awarded the goal, but when a second was correctly disallowed Michel Arteta, of course, moaned at this injustice.
Thomas Partey nearly scored from a corner but – after two bookable fouls – one a clear stamp on Jimenez – he should not have been on the pitch to have the headed chance.
I am steeling myself for the press reports, the content of which will be about Arsenal and can they catch Liverpool with – if we are lucky – some admiration in a final paragraph of Fulham’s resilience.
