Arsenal's players failed to score for the first time in 51 league games (see footnote), but fortunately Fulham came to the Gunners rescue with an own goal which earned us a 1-0 win, kept our record of scoring in consecutive matches alive and, most importantly, brought an end to our unhappy run of recent defeats.

Steve Marlet was Arsenal’s saviour, slicing a miskicked Thierry Henry corner into his own net on 31 minutes. It was hardly a goal to remember, but who knows how important it will turn out to be when the trophies are handed out at the end of the season.

In truth Fulham should have been out of sight before Marlet’s mistake. Steve Finnan almost put them ahead as early as the first minute heading over Seaman’s bar from just a few yards out.

That miss had Fulham’s fans wringing their hands in frustration, but they were soon venting their anger as referee Jeff Winter assumed centre stage with two controversial decisions involving Sol Campbell and former Arsenal man Luis Boa Morte.

Boa Morte proved a major irritation to Cygan and Campbell and should have earned his side a penalty just eight minutes into the game when he was barged over in the area by Sol.

Amazingly Winter waved Fulham’s claims away and he infuriated the home fans even further when he refused a second penalty claim for an incident involving the same two players just minutes later.

Those decisions seemed to wake Arsenal up and Fulham’s keeper Edwin van der Sar had to be particularly alert to stop efforts from Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry.

Even so Arsenal were still being forced to do the majority of their attacking on the break as Fulham pressed for an equaliser. The home side’s attacks became increasingly more desperate and Arsenal were indebted to David Seaman for a couple of smart saves which preserved their lead.

Arsenal might have nicked a second goal when Henry (who had another off day) screwed the ball wide from a difficult angle. That would have been rough on a Fulham side who deserved at least a point from a hard fought game.

As Arsenal have found out over the course of the previous four games though, you don’t always get what you deserve. Our luck was in today and until the team find their feet again we’ll settle for that.

The result leaves Arsenal four points behind Liverpool at the top of the Premiership.

Rupe adds...
To the people who have written in pointing out that we beat Boro 1-0 thanks to an own goal, hence the "51 games" thing in the first sentence above isn't right... please note that we do not count the FA Cup semi-final as a "league game". :-)