Arsenal in Overdrive

Arsenal’s visit to Craven Cottage was preceded by a considerable volume of press comment attributed to Fulham boss Chris Coleman, declaring that the Gunners were no longer a major force and hinting darkly about what his side were going to do to them.

As it turned out, Chris probably wished he had kept his counsel. Arsenal had a ball and Fulham scarcely got a touch. It was as comprehensive a demolition job as you are likely to see and by common consent Arsene Wenger’s side could easily have got into double figures and would have but for the heroics of goalkeeper Tony Warner.

Arsenal’s performance was a festival of pace, passing and movement beyond the accomplishment of any other team in the Premiership, a celebration of everything that is exciting and entertaining and good about attacking football. By half time Fulham were not only reeling but rucking and it took Thierry Henry, pausing briefly from his virtuoso display, to assume the role of peacemaker by stepping between Zat Knight and ex-Arsenal man Moritz Volz as they began to trade blows.

At the end of it all Fulham must have felt privileged to have shared the pitch with Arsenal on this occasion, and fortunate to have escaped with a 4-0 drubbing – and an education.

And Thierry Henry, in an impressive post-match interview, rightly paid tribute to the quality of Arsenal’s defending, an effective team effort which provided the foundation for their dominance in the game.