Arsenal 3 Fulham 0: Gyokeres and Saka inspire rampant display to take leaders six points clear
Nerves, what nerves?
Arsenal’s pursuit of the Premier League title has been hard going of late, with tension to the fore and goals hard to come by.
But Mikel Arteta’s side blew Fulham away at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday with a scintillating first-half display — so good it brought the unusual sight of a standing ovation at the break — that laid the foundation for one of their most straightforward wins of the season.
Perhaps significantly, it also gave their goal difference a potentially pivotal boost.
Two goals from Viktor Gyokeres and one from Bukayo Saka secured the victory, with the second half a much more mundane affair.
The result moves Arsenal six points (and four goals) better off than second-placed Manchester City. The leaders have three games to play, while Pep Guardiola’s side have five matches remaining.
Oliver Kay and Art de Roche analyse the key talking points.
In the heat of battle, was this actually… fun for Arsenal?
Mikel Arteta had a relatively trouble-free 90 minutes on Saturday (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
After months of stressful and cagey matches, Arsenal finally looked like they were enjoying their football against Fulham.
Whether it was Riccardo Calafiori popping up on the right wing, Saka putting opposition players on their backsides, or Eberechi Eze and Leandro Trossard interchanging smoothly, there was a liberation about Arsenal’s play that has rarely been there this season.
Arteta’s use of Declan Rice as a No 6 to unleash his forward-thinking players played a part, but other factors contributed, too.
Each player played forward as quickly as possible, exemplified by Saka’s goal, Arsenal’s second.
Eze’s quick ball in behind for Gyokeres to chase and the centre-forward’s confidence after receiving the pass were refreshing moments that should have been more frequent throughout the season.
The intent was clear within two minutes, as Trossard fired a shot just wide. Gyokeres’ opener coming on nine minutes also means Arsenal have doubled their tally for goals inside the opening 10 minutes of Premier League matches this season (four), having scored just two before Eze’s strike against Newcastle United last week.
Arteta also used combinations that have worked well in the past.
Arsenal’s best play on the left wing this season came in an eight-game stretch when Calafiori and Trossard started together between September and November — a partnership that was reinstated against Fulham.
While some of these players start regularly, the combination of more technical footballers with a forward-thinking mindset refreshed Arsenal’s play.
Although they could not widen the goal-difference gap in the second half, Arteta will hope the energy from one of the best Emirates atmospheres of the season can carry into upcoming matches.
Art de Roche
Was Saka back to his best?
Bukayo Saka scored his first Emirates goal since December 3 (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
If it was Arsenal’s best performance in months, the same can certainly be said of Saka, who laid on the opening goal for Gyokeres and scored the second before making way for Noni Madueke at half-time.
Arsenal’s supporters will be pleased to hear Arteta say afterwards that his withdrawal was a precaution — “we need to ramp up his load, but we need to be careful because we need him on that pitch” — with Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid in mind. This was the Saka they know and love, terrorising the opposition, a constant threat on the right flank.
That has not been the case for much of this campaign or the last, with the England winger’s contributions punctuated by injuries. From 25 Premier League goal contributions in both 2022-23 (14 goals and 11 assists) and 2023-24 (16 and nine), Saka made 16 goal contributions (six and 10) last season and only nine (six and three) in his first 28 league appearances this term.
Bukayo Saka’s goal contributions in PL
Season
Games
Goals
Assists
Goal contributions
2022-23
38
14
11
25
2023-24
35
16
9
25
2024-25
25
6
10
16
2025-26
29
7
4
11
He has been far from alone among Arsenal’s creative players in struggling, but here were some timely reminders of his wonderful ability. The way he turned Raul Jimenez inside out before setting up the opening goal was classic Saka, as was the way he caught goalkeeper Bernd Leno by surprise at the near post to score Arsenal’s second.
On this form, Saka can have a huge say in the final weeks of the season — provided he is fit and raring to go. His demeanour at the final whistle, smiling as he and his team-mates took the crowd’s acclaim, suggested he will be.
Oliver Kay
Was this Gyokeres’ best Arsenal display yet?
Viktor Gyokeres slides in Arsenal’s opening goal (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
For much of this season, Gyokeres has found himself cast in some quarters as a reason Arsenal might not win the Premier League title — rather than a reason they might.
He is not Erling Haaland in the goalscoring stakes and he is no Dennis Bergkamp or Thierry Henry when it comes to elegance or poise. But then again, who is? The goals Gyokeres scored against Fulham were his 13th and 14th of this Premier League campaign. Only three players (Haaland, 24 goals, Brentford’s Igor Thiago, 22, and Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo, 15) have scored more, and all of them have had far more playing time than Gyokeres.
This was perhaps the Sweden forward’s best all-round performance since his arrival from Sporting CP last summer. The goals he scored were classic poacher’s efforts — getting ahead of his marker to meet Saka’s low cutback in the six-yard box and then pulling away to meet Trossard’s perfect cross with a header — but equally pleasing was his involvement in the second goal, a purposeful run into the channel, an adroit turn away from Joachim Andersen and a clever pass for Saka to put Arsenal 2-0 up.
There have been games when Arteta has looked for a different approach in attack, preferring the guile of Kai Havertz or Gabriel Jesus, but Gyokeres has certainly made an impact in the Premier League and the Champions League. He is up to 21 goals in all competitions, which sounds pretty impressive for a supposed weak link.
Oliver Kay
Did Lewis-Skelly impress in midfield?
There have been a few false dawns when it comes to Myles Lewis-Skelly playing in midfield for Arsenal, but he grasped this opportunity when it finally came.
Using Rice as a No 6 worked away against Atletico Madrid, and Martin Zubimendi has been Arsenal’s most-used outfield player (4,088 minutes), so giving him a rest before the Champions League semi-final second leg made sense.
This was Lewis-Skelly’s 70th appearance for the first team, but his first start in the position where he spent his academy years.
Back then, it was his driving runs with the ball that made him stand out, but this match required him to be more thoughtful and industrious.
Lewis-Skelly dropped deeper than Rice in possession to help Arsenal set the pace of the game, and injected energy with his out-of-possession contributions.
He had bite when defending just outside the Arsenal box, and in midfield, his interceptions kick-started counter-attacks. Involved in multiple aerial battles in the opening exchanges of the game, he settled quickly and maintained his levels more consistently than in previous performances.
By the time he pulled out one of those trademark turns and dribbles just after the hour mark, the Emirates had already sung a rendition of his “49, 49, Lewis-Skelly” chant.
The question of whether Arteta could have given Lewis-Skelly more minutes in midfield sooner will be asked.
Art de Roche
What did they say after the game?
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arteta said: “I’m very happy with the team performance, with the individual performances, because we knew how difficult it was going to be, especially coming back from Madrid so late on Thursday afternoon, and with the energy that we spent in that game. Understanding that you don’t want to talk about it, you have a huge game in a few days here, but we talked about hunger, and about having the ability to focus and be so determined on what we had to do.
“We had some fresh legs from a few players, you could notice that big time, because the individual performance increased, and then the team flowed in a different way. The moment that we did that, I think we engaged the supporters, and when that happens and you create the atmosphere that you saw at the Emirates, we make it very difficult for that moment.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, Gyokeres insisted morale had remained high in the dressing room, even as their lead at the top evaporated. “We controlled the game very well,” he said. “It was a very good performance and an important three points.
“We never stopped believing, and we’re not going to. We’re on a good path but we have to stay there.”
What next for Arsenal?
Tuesday, May 5: Atletico Madrid (Home), Champions League semi-final second leg, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
