Robin van Persie let his football do the talking with a well-executed second-half winner as Arsenal beat Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage - where young Gunners goalkeeper Vito Mannone had an inspired match.
• Palmer: Focus on Fabregas
• Mannone: It was the highlight of my career
The Dutchman grabbed the pre-match headlines when weighing into the diving debate by admitting he does sometimes exaggerate his reaction to fouls.
However, there was nothing false about his finish this afternoon, as van Persie latched onto a defence-splitting pass from captain Cesc Fabregas to net what proved to be the winning goal on 52 minutes. Arsenal, though, had rookie stopper Mannone to thank for securing the points with a string of fine saves as Fulham were left frustrated.
With Chelsea having lost at Wigan, Arsene Wenger's men - beaten at both Manchester United and Manchester City - had a chance to close the gap at the top of the Premier League.
The Gunners started positively, with Bacary Sagna sending over a deep cross from the right which defender Thomas Vermaelen - their leading scorer so far - headed wide. However, Mannone was soon called into action when Clint Dempsey created space for a shot at the edge of the Arsenal penalty area.
Fulham were forced into an early change after just nine minutes when Damien Duff hobbled off, replaced by Zoltan Gera. The home side continued to knock the ball about well - and almost snatched the lead on 15 minutes. Gera whipped the ball over, and Andrew Johnson's bullet header was brilliantly palmed away by Mannone - who also somehow kept out the rebound from Dempsey at point-blank range.
Fabregas fired just over after good work from van Persie, who combined with Fabregas to play in Arshavin, but the Russian was always stretching as his 10-yard effort flew high into the stands. And Nicklas Bendtner tested Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer with a low drive from the edge of the area.
There was little respite for the visitors, though, as Fulham were soon back on the offensive, quickly closing down any space. Gera flashed a shot across goal, which Mannone got a hand to, after being played in on the right by Johnson.
Fulham looked to continue where they had left off following the restart, as Bobby Zamora flashed a 20-yard drive wide. Arsenal, though, showed more determination, with Arshavin creating problems down the left.
Then, out of nothing, the visitors snatched the lead on 52 minutes, after Paul Konchesky's upfield pass was cut out and fed to Fabregas. The Spain midfielder waited, before chipping an exquisite pass which split the centre-backs on the edge of the area, where van Persie arrived on queue to kill the ball with his left foot, before guiding a fine low strike into the far corner with his right. After such a positive opening, Craven Cottage was stunned as the atmosphere fell flat.
It was almost 2-0 when Bendtner flashed the ball across goal, which Schwarzer beat away. Fulham then broke quickly through Zamora down the right, and his centre was glanced goalwards by Johnson - only for Mannone to produce another stunning save at full stretch before again denying Dempsey at the far post.
Just past the hour, Bendtner charged forwards to the edge of the Fulham box, but scuffed his shot. Fulham came agonisingly close to an equaliser when Dempsey's drive deflected off Sagna and onto the post. Then, Gallas produced a brilliant block to deny Zamora.
On 77 minutes, Mannone did well to turn away another effort from Johnson before the inspired Italian then kept out Zamora's downward header.
Bendtner had a couple of half-chances late on, and although Wenger was less than impressed by the five minutes of injury-time, during which substitute Emmanuel Eboue flashed wide when clean through, the Gunners boss was more than happy with the result when the final whistle eventually came.
Mannone: It was the highlight of my career.
Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone has admitted his performance against Fulham was the highlight of his career so far. Mannone, the Gunners' third-choice stopper denied Andrew Johnson, Clint Dempsey and substitute Zoltan Gera with a number of impressive saves. And his response to being asked if it was the best performance of his career, the 21-year-old struggled to hide his delight.
"I would say yes, when you play like that in the first team," Mannone told ESPN."You have to take your opportunity. I think I did it tonight and I'm happy with the three points, it was a great win. We all enjoyed it. It was a great performance by the team and the group showed a lot of solidarity.''Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was also full of praise for the young goalkeeper and the persistence of his "special" side to make the breakthrough. "We could have scored more but I believe Fulham had chances," Wenger said. "The goalkeeper kept us a clean sheet today. Vito is a young keeper with talent and he has shown it today. It's only one game but it's good for his confidence."Overall it was a highly committed game and we needed to be special to come away with three points. At half-time I said what we were producing was not enough to win the game - we had to correct a few things tactically. I'm very happy because we've played six games, four times away. Overall I believe the attitude and spirit in the side makes me very positive about this season.''For Fulham manager Roy Hodgson, there was scant reward as his team suffered their fourth defeat of the season despite producing one for one of their best performances yet this campaign. "I did not think it was a bad performance from us,'' Hodgson said. "We defended well and attacked well against one of the Premier League's better teams. We have now played four of last season's top five and can only hope there are other teams out there who we can beat more easily."We played better than we did when we beat them here last year. Then, we scored and dug in. This time it was they who got the goal and then dug in. All these things are balm for the wound but it is the wound that is the major problem. The result of the game is that Arsenal won. We can say we were unlucky, but it's still a defeat for us and we have lost four of our last five games.''
