Arsenal 4 fulham 1
Aubameyang, Ramsey, Lacazette and Xhaka strike as Arsenal begin 2019 with a bang
Aboubakar Kamara made up for his controversial penalty miss to threaten a comeback but the Gunners were too strong for London rivals
ARSENAL eased their way into the New Year with a nervous but much-needed victory at the Emirates.
Goals from Granit Xhaka, Alexandre Lacazette, Aaron Ramsey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were enough to see off relegation-threatened Fulham and narrow the gap to the top four.
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But their anxious defence still managed to make hard work of what should have been a straightforward three points by allowing Aboubakar Kamara to briefly reduce the arrears.
The Gunners could have been ahead as early as the second minute but Aubameyang was unable to keep his shot down after beating Maxime Le Marchand to Alex Iwobi’s low cross.
Fulham had a decent chance of their own to snatch the lead when Ryan Sessegnon raced away from the labouring Laurent Koscielny but sent his 15th minute effort hurriedly wide.
The youngster had an clearer opportunity to punish Arsenal’s sloppy defending midway through the first-half but failed to connect with Andre Schurrle’s cross when completely unattended at the back post.
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Unai Emery admits Arsenal defence needs to improve and that he understands fans booing his tactical decisions after Fulham win
And Fulham paid the price for those costly errors when Xhaka fired Arsenal into a 25th minute lead.
Iwobi was given far too much time to chip into the danger zone and Xhaka was allowed the freedom of the penalty area to prod his shot past keeper Sergio Rico with the minimum of fuss.
Aubameyang headed wide from another Iwobi cross and Lacazette brought a sharp save from Rico as Arsenal looked to put the game to bed before half-time.
Yet Unai Emery still wasn’t happy with his team’s efforts and went to 4-3-3 at the break by sending on Lucas Torreira for Shkodran Mustafi.
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Arsenal fans boo as Alexandre Lacazette is substituted for Aaron Ramsey against Fulham
And the change had an almost instant effect when Lacazette finished off an intricate move down the left flank involving Iwobi, Aubameyang and Sead Kolasinac to double Arsenal’s lead in the 55th minute.
Yet just when it looked as though Arsenal were going to claim a rare clean sheet, substitute Kamara was allowed to steal in unchallenged to turn in Sessegnon’s 70th-minute cross.
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Claudio Ranieri said he ‘killed’ Aboubakar Kamara after penalty antics against Huddersfield but did forgive him
Suddenly the struggling visitors sensed that they could still get something out of the game.
But their comeback hopes were ended in the 79th minute when Aubameyang turned Kolasinac’s cross against the post before Ramsey buried the rebound.
And Arsenal’s £60million top scorer finally claimed his 16th goal of the season when his 83rd-minute shot looped beyond Rico with the help of a deflection off Tim Ream.
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