Arsenal grind out victory as flair fails

Arsenal...2 Fulham...1Champions will not always win like champions. Sometimes victory will be churned out of a performance more like skimmed milk than créme de la crème. Arsenal's belated defeat of Fulham on Saturday belonged in the latter category. It reminded Highbury of the predatory qualities of Robert Pires but, compared to the fast, fluent attacking play which left Liverpool shell-shocked three nights earlier, it was hardly a success to savour.

Nevertheless they hold a six-point lead over their closest pursuers, Manchester United. Had Pires's second goal of the game not won it for Arsenal in stoppage time United could have reduced the gap to one point by winning at Birmingham City tomorrow.

Since Alex Ferguson's team will also have played a derby game before Arsenal begin their match at Newcastle United next Sunday, Manchester United can still draw level on points this weekend, if only for a few hours.

In a fortnight Arsenal will resume Champions League activity against Ajax and before that they have a fifth-round FA Cup tie at Old Trafford. A failure to beat Fulham, who have only ever taken one point from Highbury and that 39 years ago, would have increased the pressure on Arsene Wenger's side.

Even in the plutocratic Premier League there is still no such thing as a bread-and-butter game. Not that a jog to the memory should have been necessary for two weeks earlier West Ham refused to be served up on toast.

Jean Tigana's side may have won only one league fixture in their previous seven but they had run Arsenal close at Loftus Road in November. True, Pascal Cygan, frequently beaten for speed by Luis Boa Morte in the earlier game, had given way to Martin Keown in Arsenal's defence but this time Fulham came within seconds of holding the champions.

When Sylvain Legwinski departed after 10 minutes with a damaged hamstring Martin Djetou moved out of the back four to make way for the substitute, Andy Melville, which left Fulham better able to deal with the attacking inclinations of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva. Djetou and Sean Davis consistently tracked down the Arsenal pair while Steve Finnan and the industrious, intuitive Steed Malbranque created space for Fulham on the right.

So although Arsenal's lead just past the quarter-hour, when an unmarked Pires nodded down Thierry Henry's centre at the far post, was predictable there was also a certain logic about Fulham's equaliser after 29 minutes.

Finnan's cross was met by Steve Marlet, off whose head the ball looped to Malbranque, who drove it low past David Seaman.

From then on Arsenal's frustration mounted as one cross from Sylvain Wiltord evaded Henry's lunge and another, from Pires, just missed the net after a deflection off Melville had taken it beyond Taylor's reach. Then Gilberto drove against a post.

By then, however, Wiltord had made way for Francis Jeffers, who gives Arsenal a combustion in the penalty area. His presence provided a problem for a Fulham defence which had admirably preserved its discipline against the pace and guile of Henry, Pires and Dennis Bergkamp. No sooner had he come off the bench than Jeffers was turning quickly in a tight place to bring a stretching save from Maik Taylor.

"He can do something different," said Wenger later, "and if he is a fox then he's an unselfish fox."

Jeffers proved as much when, following a crossfield pass from Vieira which was squared into the area by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, he laid the ball off first time for Pires to hurtle in at the far post and win the game.

"I'm slowly getting close to my best level," said Pires. "My injury definitely belongs to the past even though I cannot rule out some weariness with the repetition of matches."

Not a perfect victory by any means but, for Arsenal, a perfect ending and a perfect retort to those who believe they rely too much on Henry for goals.

Guardian Service

ARSENAL: Seaman, Cole, Keown, Campbell, Lauren (Toure 84), Pires, Vieira, Silva (van Bronckhorst 79), Wiltord (Jeffers 70), Bergkamp, Henry. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Cygan. Booked: Lauren, Henry, Toure. Goals: Pires 17, 90.

FULHAM: Taylor, Harley, Goma, Djetou, Finnan, Boa Morte, Davis, Malbranque, Legwinski (Melville 10), Marlet, Sava (Saha 69). Subs Not Used: Goldbaek, Herrera, Wome. Booked: Melville. Goals: Malbranque 29.

Referee: E Wolstenholme (Lancashire).