Gunners scotch crisis talk with win
Print Edition
Arsenal put to bed talk of an early-season crisis with a fluent 3-1 win at Fulham to register its first English Premier League points of the season yesterday.
Lukas Podolski scored twice after Olivier Giroud had grabbed the opener for the visitors while Darren Bent tapped in a consolation goal on his debut for Fulham at Craven Cottage.
There were first wins of the season for Stoke City, which came from behind to beat promoted side Crystal Palace 2-1, and another promoted team Hull City, which beat Norwich City 1-0.
Everton drew its second successive game after failing to break down West Bromwich Albion in a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park, while Newcastle United’s match at home to West Ham United was also scoreless.
Sunderland took the lead at Southampton through Italian Emanuele Giaccherini, but Jose Fonte equalized with two minutes to play to grab a 1-1 draw for the hosts.
Aston Villa was hosting Liverpool later in the day.
Chelsea leads the early standings on six points after winning its first two games.
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal was beaten at home by Aston Villa on the season’s opening day, but it beat Fenerbahce 3-0 in mid-week in the first leg of their Champions League play-off and carried that momentum into yesterday’s game.
Heavy downpours in west London made for a saturated playing surface, but it did not stop Arsenal taking the lead in the 14th minute when Giroud gathered a low shot from Aaron Ramsey and stabbed the ball past Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale.
Podolski made it 2-0 four minutes before half-time when he side-footed home after Stockdale saved from Theo Walcott, and the Germany forward sealed victory in the 68th by gathering a pass from Santi Cazorla and arrowing a shot into the bottom-right corner.
Bent pulled one back for the hosts in the 77th, tapping in a low cross from fellow forward Dimitar Berbatov.
“It’s never easy to play away or win away and we did it in a convincing way,” Wenger told BT Sport.
“We had a disappointing result against Villa and it was important to respond, and we’ve had two convincing wins, first against Fenerbahce and again today here.”
Both teams have three points from their first two league games after Fulham beat Sunderland in its opening fixture of the season.
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