Player Ratings: Fulham 0-1 Arsenal

The ratings are in after Fulham's first home defeat in the Premier League this season.

Marco Silva’s side fell to a third consecutive Premier League defeat, this time at the hands of league leaders Arsenal as Fulham’s injury crisis worsened at Craven Cottage. With the Whites sat on just eight points from eight games, it’s been a slow start to the season in a year when we should really be kicking on under Marco, and it won’t get any easier with Newcastle away on the horizon.

Bernd Leno

Unfortunately wasn’t able to rely on his teammates to defend his back post from an Arsenal corner when Trossard scored the eventual winner, but overall thought he dealt with Arsenal’s well-known set piece threat quite well when called upon, as well as making a number of impressive saves. One from Gyokeres was the only bit of work he had to do in the first half, another was a cracking low save from Saka just past the hour mark. Perhaps the pick of a bunch was a double save in stoppage time to deny Arsenal going two ahead, first from Gyokeres and then from Martinelli. Leno’s best showing for a while, and against his former side too. 7.5/10 – Man of the match

Timothy Castagne

Decent enough. Had worries about how often Trossard was beating him in the first half but he got on top of him on open play as the game went on. Whenever Arsenal switched up their corner approach, Castagne was always the man knocking the ball away from the front post. His 50th-minute clearance off the line was a brilliant, reactive piece of defending that completely spared the blushes of Sander Berge. Still, just think the problems at the other end persist with his lack of attacking threat. The drop off from Tete in that regard is astonishing. 6.5/10

Joachim Andersen

Hard to judge really because for the 41 minutes Joa played, we probably had the better of the game. Bar a decent block from a Calafiori effort just moments before the Dane came off injured, there really wasn’t much to report on. Hopefully it’s not a serious knock and he’s back at St. James’ Park. 6/10

Jorge Cuenca

Potentially a surprise inclusion, especially in a back four, but once more proved his credentials as a Premier League defender, credentials that will be under scrutiny more than ever in an AFCON year. Just did everything you’d want from a modern centre-back. More combined interceptions, blocks and clearances than anyone else on the pitch, including a couple of superb last ditch tackles on Gyokeres. Add to that his natural ball-playing ability and it makes you just want to see him play on a more frequent basis. With Bassey’s form and international commitments, maybe we will. 7/10

Ryan Sessegnon

Thought he dealt with Saka really well. Put in a couple of strong tackles early on which pushed Saka back at times. As Saka grew in confidence and got towards our box more, Sess was superb at showing patience, standing him up, and pushing him away from using his preferred left foot. Going forward, again offered more of a threat than his Belgian compatriot on the opposite side of the pitch. How Robinson is reintegrated into this side and where it leaves Sess will be interesting after a strong start to the season for Ryan. 7/10

Sander Berge

See, Berge played a nice little ball through to Wilson early on that could’ve been his first Fulham assist, and it makes you think, OK here’s a player who can actually influence games in the final third. Then for the rest of the game he dwells on the ball in a fixture we could have got more out of it. The defining moment being a promising Fulham counter attack in the second half, where Fulham have four or five bodies running beyond the midfield. Berge received the ball in the middle of the park in acres of space and instead of turning and driving the ball on, played it back to the defence. I am beyond fed up with his negativity in the middle of the pitch. 5/10

Tom Cairney

Frustrating that from the start he didn’t quite play the same way he did against Bournemouth off the bench. That day he drove forward from midfield, everything went through him and he had three or four really good strikes at goal. Here, he made just 20 passes and rarely got near Arsenal’s box. Admittedly, a potential shoulder injury did seem to hamper the captain, but frustrating nonetheless. Not half as frustrating as his appalling defending for Arsenal’s goal, Trossard was his man at the back post and he simply stood still holding his shorts up as the Belgian ghosted through to score. 5.5/10

Harry Wilson

After a performance against Bournemouth that offered so little, Wilson seemed intent on making amends and getting a goal. A couple of first half efforts went just wide of post posts and two further efforts early on in the second half flew just over the bar. There were a few half-decent crosses in there too but too often there were too few players in the box to aim for. 6.5/10

Josh King

Another decent showing, if not as influential. His cross-come-shot on the half an hour mark came so close to breaking the deadlock (and it wouldn’t be like David Raya to get caught out at his near post, would it). Pressed really high throughout alongside Raul Jimenez but got very little success from it. 10 completed passes in just over an hour probably isn’t ideal for a key playmaker in the side, it has to be said, and may be a reason as to why he was subbed off with much of the game still to be played. 6/10

Alex Iwobi

Think Iwobi is quietly finding really good form in an underperforming Fulham attacking cohort. Four key passes in a game where Fulham didn’t score or create many clear cut chances is quite the effort, with one pass to Wilson in particular reminiscent of the gorgeous defence-splitting ball he played against Brentford. Loved the defensive cover he offered Sessegnon against Saka and Timber, including four tackles, the most of any Fulham player on the day. 7/10

Raul Jimenez

Ridiculous levels of effort across the 90 minutes from a player who was a doubt coming into this weekend. His high press forced Gabriel and Saliba to frequently go long and his constant running into the right channel frequently provided Wilson with opportunities to drift inside and get many shooting opportunities. The Mexican was simply unfortunate that those around him didn’t show the same intent to provide for him in Arsenal’s penalty area. 7.5/10

Substitutes

Issa Diop

Well, all of last season the fans were saying Diop deserved more opportunities, now he’s presumably going to get some with an injury to Andersen. Diop looked good in the air against the physical presence of Gyokeres and made a couple of important last ditch clearances, showing really good focus off the bench. 6.5/10

Kevin

Came on on the hour mark for King to add some much needed pace to Fulham’s attacking play. His play looks so much more disciplined, probably due to some extended time under our coaches on the training pitch. Some decisive tackles and threatening crosses was good to see, now we have to find the balance in getting the best of both his Brazilian talents and the end product he was showing at Shakhtar out of him consistently. 6.5/10

Emile Smith Rowe

Not quite as effective as some of his other cameos this season, coming on for the last half an hour in place of the captain. Pressed high and played a number of neat passes in midfield but didn’t influence the game enough in the final third when we needed an equaliser. 6/10

Calvin Bassey and Adama Traore came on too late to be rated.

Marco Silva

I had my worries over the starting lineup. I liked that Cairney was used rather than someone more defensive like Reed and glad Cuenca got a go over the underperforming Bassey. However the side seemed to be screaming out for a bit of pace and really that showed in the end with how slow we were to get bodies in the box on a frequent basis. All that said, I loved how we set up for nearly an hour. We played better attacking football than Arsenal in the first half while denying them any chances, especially for the first 30 minutes.

The way we set up out of possession with King up next to Raul in a 4-4-2 was reminiscent of how Pereira was utilisied alongside Mitro the first year we came up under Silva, which I think is how we should play every week. My issue was the response to going behind. We posed less of an attacking threat and had no coherent patterns of play. At one point we played a ball into the box from the right hand side in the last ten minutes and there was one man in the box. Silva even bought on a centre back late on when we needed a goal with a literal striker on the bench. Those levels of pragmatism are what anger me on a way too frequent basis. He simply does not have a plan B. 6/10