Tottenham Hotspur’s win over Bournemouth and Fulham’s comeback victory against Arsenal are the focus of our next Scout Notes article.
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A second consecutive loss means that Arsenal have now won just one of their past five Premier League games.
Fulham appeared to be there for the taking when Bukayo Saka (£9.0m) turned the ball in from six yards to put the visitors in front, but the Gunners struggled to find their rhythm at Craven Cottage, with Raul Jimenez (£5.2m) equalising and Bobby De Cordova-Reid (£5.3m) scrambling home the winner on the hour.
Previously a sturdy defence, the Gunners have now kept just one clean sheet in the past seven Gameweeks, conceding 10 goals.
The problem is that the attack isn’t functioning either.
In fact, from Gameweek 16 onwards, they’ve scored just four times in five matches.
Yes, they’ve been a little unfortunate, underperforming their expected goals (xG) by a whopping 4.88 in that time, yet Sunday’s showing at Fulham was lacking creativity and lethargic in the final-third, despite playmaker Martin Odegaard’s (£8.4m) best efforts.
Saka did at least find the net, ending a run of four successive blanks, but later missed a great chance on the volley to make it 2-2, blasting it high and wide.
He is at least getting opportunities, though, with four ‘big chances’ in his last two appearances, as many as he’d received in the previous 12 combined.
Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.2m) missed out due to a calf injury which will need to be assessed, meanwhile.
“Today was our worst game of the season. The pace, the purpose we have in attack, defensively we were second best, we could not dominate and had issues because of that.
“We weren’t good enough. We lost three days ago when we deserved to win, but today we were nowhere near that level.” – Mikel Arteta
JIMENEZ RETURNS
Fulham had hit a bit of a bump in the road before Gameweek 20, with three straight defeats, but inspired by the returns of Raul Jimenez and Willian (£5.3m), were much better here.
In the early stages, the Cottagers got plenty of joy down Arsenal’s right, with Willian and Antonee Robinson (£4.4m) combining well.
The Brazilian curled a shot wide but it was Jimenez who deservedly drew the hosts level, finishing off a lovely flowing move, before De Cordova-Reid pounced from close range after Arsenal failed to deal with a corner.
For Jimenez, who is just £5.2m in FPL, he has now scored four goals in his last four appearances.
He also bossed the underlying goal threat stats on Sunday, racking up five shots, four shots in the box and one Opta-defined ‘big chance.’
Now, with Willian and Jimenez back and firing, Marco Silva’s worries will be somewhat eased, with a west London derby against Chelsea up next in Gameweek 21.
“Really the best way to finish 2023, definitely. Our ambition was to finish on a high and react from the last two games. I really believe we deserve it. Over the 95 minutes we deserved it more.
“It was very good reaction after the first goal. The way we beat their pressure and began to play our way. We even had more chances to score a third goal. We want to improve in this aspect [consistency] of our journey but it is the most difficult as well. The reaction was brilliant.” – Marco Silva
SON + RICHARLISON STRIKE
Tottenham closed the gap on Arsenal to just one point with victory over Bournemouth on Sunday.
Pape Sarr (£4.5m) opened the scoring before Son Heung-min (£9.9m) and Richarlison (£6.8m) wrapped up the win.
Sarr and Son will now, of course, head to AFCON and the Asian Cup respectively, although the former’s involvement is in some doubt after he left the pitch with a hamstring injury.
“It has been a constant for us. I’m disappointed for Pape [Sarr], I’m not fully sure about the extent yet. It’s a hamstring, he’s gutted. We’ll have to let others step up.” – Ange Postecoglou
Given Spurs’ injury list, along with Dejan Kulusevski’s (£7.2m) suspension, it was no surprise they lacked intensity and creativity here, enjoying just 52% possession.
However, they got the job done, with their strike force stepping up once again.
Richarlison was responsible for half of Tottenham’s 10 shots in the box and netted his fifth goal in as many matches, while Son scored his 12th of the campaign so far – only Erling Haaland (£13.9m) has more.
In Kulusevski’s absence, Giovani Lo Celso (£4.8m) took on the role of creator-in-chief, meanwhile, laying on two assists.
“Yeah Gio was great. He’s been great the last two or three weeks. With the amount of injuries we’ve had and absences we’ve had, we’ve needed everyone in the group and everybody who has come in has stepped up.
“Gio was very good today, not just with his work rate but you could see his quality on the ball. His passes through and the one through to Sonny was outstanding. We needed him today and we’re going to need him going forward because Sonny goes away now, Biss goes away, Pape goes away. So I thought he was a good contributor.” – Ange Postecoglou
SOLANKE UNLUCKY
Bournemouth lacked a clinical edge at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but created plenty of chances.
The in-form Dominic Solanke (£7.1m) had nine shots alone (see below), the most he’s managed in a match all season, but could only hit the target with a couple of them and just couldn’t get the final moment right.
Above: Dominic Solanke’s shot map (on target in green) v Tottenham Hotspur in Gameweek 20
Elsewhere, substitute Alex Scott (£4.9m) returned for the second successive Gameweek, wiping out Pedro Porro’s (£5.7m) clean sheet when he swept home from a Marcus Tavernier (£5.4m) cutback.
He thought he’d got his second of the day in injury time, too, only for the flag to go up for offside.
Sunday’s defeat marked the Cherries’ first loss in eight games, with Liverpool up next at the Vitality Stadium in Gameweek 21.
“You have to score goals and they were much better than us in the last third, finishing-wise. I’m really happy with the performance. We played with really strong personality against a top opposition. We had our chances, we had a lot of the ball around their box and in their half but it wasn’t good enough, especially in the last third to make it 1-1 and put them under pressure.
“We were closer [to Spurs than August’s defeat to them], especially to scoring goals, but we also have to realise that playing well even having a lot of the ball close to their box, having shots and corners that it wasn’t enough to beat Spurs. You make one mistake they punish you and it’s something we have to learn and to accept that even at our good level we need to improve things if we want to compete against this kind of opposition.” – Andoni Iraola
