BREDE-IN OBVIOUS

Fulham 1, Arsenal 0

IT used to be Thierry Henry. Now Cesc Fabregas is the player Arsenal can’t do without.

As the Spanish midfield maestro was rested, the Gunners crashed to a Fulham side adopting an up-and-at-’em gameplan.

Giant centre-half Brede Hangeland gave the Cottagers a 21st-minute lead and, from then on, they battled hard to frustrate Arsene Wenger’s side.

The Gunners dominated the possession. A lot of it was pretty but — too often — it was also predictable. They simply lacked the cut and thrust and off-the-cuff magic that Fabregas offers.

He was fit for yesterday’s game and boss Wenger may well regret the decision not to play him.

Titles are not won in the opening weeks of the season — but they can be lost.

As for Fulham, more displays like this and they can consign fears of a relegation battle to the bin.

Boss Roy Hodgson has gone about a radical restructuring of his squad during the summer.

And on this evidence he seems to have done well.

Star summer signing, striker Andy Johnson, was missing yesterday. But his replacement up front — Seol Ki-Hyeon — offered frontman Bobby Zamora enthusiastic support.

From the off, both of them set out to unsettle Kolo Toure and William Gallas by closing them down quickly when they didn’t have the ball — and running at them when they did.

And with Fulham’s midfield four pressing impressively the Gunners found it hard to settle and play their usual passing game. An early challenge by John Paintsil on Emmanuel Eboue seemed over the top and over-zealous but was not spotted by referee Martin Atkinson.

Clearly Hodgson had told his side to mix it.

With Fulham so pumped up, the Gunners could not get an early grip on the game.

That said, they should have taken the lead in the 19th minute — the first occasion they had managed to manoeuvre a real opening.

Theo Walcott looped a ball over from the right which reached Samir Nasri beyond the far post.

The £12million summer signing from Marseille, who had scored the early winner against West Brom last week, decided not to pull the trigger and intelligently flicked the ball back.

It rolled invitingly into the path of Robin van Persie but the Dutchman snatched at the chance, pulling his shot wildly wide when he should have buried it.

Fulham fully exploited that let-off by snatching the lead on 21 minutes. Toure made a well-timed saving tackle after Zamora was about to unload having pounced on a defensive slip.

But the Gunners’ defending from the ensuing corner was far too slack.

Jimmy Bullard floated the ball over and, as the everyone stood and watched, 6ft 4in Norwegian Hangeland exposed the faults of zonal marking from set-pieces by striding in unmarked to lash the ball beyond Gunners keeper Manuel Almunia. It was just the start Fulham needed and, two minutes later, keeper Mark Schwarzer protected the precious lead with a super save.

Emmanuel Adebayor rose to meet a Bacary Sagna cross with a meaty header that seemed destined to sneak just inside Schwarzer’s left-hand post.

But the Aussie keeper — an inspired singing from Middlesbrough in the summer — managed to claw the ball to safety with the help of the upright. That Walcott was substituted in favour of Nicklas Bendtner in the 65th minute said it all.

Wenger had seen enough to figure the youngster was not going to be able to turn the game back in Arsenal’s favour.

And the fact is the 19-year-old is a long way off making a real impact in the Premier League.He operated wide on the right but got over only one decent cross, early in the first half. After that, he never got beyond Fulham left-back Tony Kallio.

Walcott did manage a strike on goal in the 36th minute but the 20-yard effort wobbled well over.

Having got their foothold Fulham were inspired to maintain the high tempo they had started with and did not surrender possession cheaply. As a result, the Gunners had only rare sights of Schwarzer’s goal. One of the best came in the 70th minute but Van Persie’s 20-yard free-kick rocket deflected off the wall and over the bar.

Goal hero Hangeland declared: “This felt really good. To put in a performance like this — and to beat Arsenal — makes us really proud of ourselves. We have a good team spirit and, in the first half, we played really well.

“We got tired in the second half but managed to see the game out and we’re happy with that.

“I know we have a good team and when we play our best — like we did in the first half — it is possible to beat any team.”

Boss Hodgson said: “Today we have beaten one of the very best teams in the league. Maybe we do have the pedigree to be worthy of our place in the top flight.

“I am delighted for the team. The quality of our passing and movement matched Arsenal. If you get anywhere near matching Arsenal that’s something you have to be proud of.”

Wenger said: “Fulham started stronger than us and from then on it was all us. But we did not create enough. We need more personality and authority.”

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