When I published my first Premiership match preview on January 9, I had a wish: to start an “unbeaten run” which of course, didn’t include drawing almost all our matches. This other goalless draw, and again at the Emirates, means that the fourth place in the Premiership is no longer “doable” but an impossible task which will be very, very hard to obtain.

When I read the line-up, I couldn’t hide my satisfaction as it was exactly the 11 I was hoping for before the match, and in a way, we saw an improvement over the match against Sunderland but unfortunately, it still was not enough. There are many things which I can’t explain about today’s match such as where has Robin’s magic in front of goal gone or why Arsene decided to replace Vela and not Arshavin to bring Bendtner in. I’ll just try to understand that in tomorrow’s post-match thoughts, hoping to be in a better mood.

As for the half’s chances, Robin missed another good header, hit the post always with the head with Schwarzer not anywhere near the ball and a couple more missed opportunities in my notebook from Robin who blasted one wide after a nice lay-off from Bendtner and Arshavin who failed to hit the target. The Russian, I’m afraid, is becoming more and more the signing we “did not need” in the last market transfer although I would wait for him to regain fitness level before judging.

Player Ratings

Almunia: 6,5 – Fulham created a lot but surprisingly, Manuel had very little to do as almost all their efforts were wide or high.
Clichy: 5,5 – Not the best of matches from the Frenchman, who yet again, failed to deliver important crosses.
Sagna: 5 – See Clichy.
Gallas: 7,5 – I think William was superb at the back and can’t really blame him from the missed offside traps as it was Clichy, if I saw correctly, who kept the Fulham players on side.
Toure: 6,5 – Solid as well at the back but I expected him to push forward a little bit more.
Denilson/Diaby: 4,5 – Not much to say. Danny Murphy and Etuhu simply won the midfield battle and yet again, we had to witness these two giving the ball away cheaply.
Nasri: 6 – Very active up front, almost playing as a striker along side Robin at one stage in the match, but failed to make an impact in Fulham’s penalty area.
Vela: 6,5 – I was furious to see him substituted as he was the best of the Nasri-Vela-Arshavin trio.
Arshavin: 5,5 – Very anonymous. It’s clear he’s still way off the ideal fitness level. The reason why Wenger stuck with him for 90-minutes? Ask him.
Van Persie: 6 – Goal opportunities were created for him but failed to take advantage.

(Subs)
Eboue: 6,5 – When pushing forward, he gave something more than Sagna, maybe time to go back to his old position and give Bacary a rest?
Bendtner: 6 – Did pretty well in shielding the ball and providing support to Robin.