Szczesny: 6,5 – Overall quiet game for the Poland International who was however ready when called into action, such as when he made a brilliant save in the 41st minute to deny Clinton Dempsey.

Djourou: 7 – Pleasantly surprised. Johan, as we all know, is not at all comfortable as full back but today he was incredibly solid as he produced a wonderful block in the 5th minute of the game and was full of confidence when we surged forward, going very close on minute 73 with a header.

Vermaelen: 6 – Uncharacteristic below-par performance from Thomas who was twice easily-beaten in the first half with Fulham going close. Inexplicable, the way he tried to clear the ball when the Cottagers took the lead as he however bounced back immediately when he headed the equaliser on minute 81.

Mertesacker: 6 – Substituted in the 68th minute of the game, Per had a good game in central defence.

Santos: 7 – Brilliant start to the game as he made two very good interceptions in the defensive department but struggled against Bryan Ruiz as the game progressed(getting a yellow in the process) and this is a big worry going forward. Offensively, however, he was excellent as he tried his luck from long range and turned provider with a number of good crosses, when required.

Ramsey: 5 – Disappointing. Make no mistake, Aaron, lately, is making a number of very interesting runs in the box, placing himself in great positions but unfortunately he was today very poor with his first touch or final shot.

Arteta: 5 – Also very disappointing as I believe Mikel and Aaron are starting to show signs of fatigue which is not a good sign considering that the Christmas period is fast approaching.

Song: 6 – Sit deep and helped the defensive department when Fulham entered our half but was still guilty of giving away possession on a number of occasions. Did well, in the 6th minute, to find Andrey Arshavin who found Aaron who had his effort saved.

Arshavin: 5 – Produced a fantastic finish on minute four only for his effort to be ruled out for off-side, great pass for Aaron in the 6th minute of the game with the Welshman having his effort saved and then … vanished. With Gervinho warming up after only 30 minutes one would have expected Andrey to improve in the second half but he didn’t.

Walcott: 8 – Top class. Phenomenal run in the 23rd minute of the game concluded with a very good pass for Aaron Ramsey who missed. Right-footed effort on minute 25 saved by Mark Schwarzer, good cross for Robin on minute 33 with the Dutchman heading backwards for Andrey who missed and more of the same in the second half as he delivered the cross for Thomas’ head when we equalised and produced another very good pass for Robin minutes later.

van Persie: 6 – Sooner or later his run had to end. Overall, Robin’s game was a good one as he produced the pass to Andrey for the aforementioned moved on minute four and had an excellent effort cleared off the line on minute 58.

(Subs)
Gervinho/Diaby/Chamakh: 6,5 / 6 / No Vote – You could see that we improved when the first two came on with Gervinho adding pace to our moves, showing why he is one of the most important players in the squad and with Abou not shy to dribble his way into the Fulham penalty area. The Moroccan only played 15 minutes but it was great to see him tracking back to win the ball, showed heart.

The Dutch manager Martin Jol saw his Fulham team manage to stop Robin Van Persie from scoring, but he still thinks that his fellow countryman is as good a striker as the Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.

Jol said after the game yesterday: “He is another Thierry Henry. He is very productive. The only chance he had to show his class was the shot that was cleared off the line. But otherwise we handled him well.

“You have to avoid the crosses to him and cross out the passes to him. He is not known for his heading in Holland. But he has scored 31 league goals in 30 games.

“You can’t man mark him because we use zonal marking and I can’t use that and then ask the players to man mark someone.”

Luckily Thomas Vermaelen came good with the equalising goal for Arsenal after scoring the first for Fulham, but all-in-all it was a disappointing game for Van Persie and his team-mates, but obviously Jol thinks he is an amazing player.

Thomas Vermaelen has revealed that he never had any desire to quit Arsenal before signing his new contract extension last month.

The Belgium international central defender agreed to pledge his long-term future to the Gunners in October despite admitting that he mulled over his options given that Arsene Wenger's men had a disappointing start to the campaign.
And, having recovered from an ankle problem which kept him out of the early part of this season, Vermaelen is delighted to have now committed to the club and feels they can still deliver some long-awaited silverware to the Emirates Stadium.
"I thought about the situation with my contract for a really long time," he said.
"Of course, I knew there were doubts from outside about the club. But the most important thing for me is that I feel happy here.
"I have only really played one year of games at Arsenal, so I wanted to give something back to the club that has looked after me.
"I believe in the club, I think the structure is really good. They are the main reasons I stayed.
"I think we can challenge the other clubs like Man City and Man United. We have to look at ourselves and we had to do that when our start wasn't perfect."