https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alDO-sGItuo
Bukayo Saka enjoyed a dream return to action by scoring what proved to the the winner minutes after coming off the bench against Fulham.
Mikel Merino had given us a first-half lead before Bukayo entered the fray midway through the second, and within eight minutes he was celebrating when he nodded home a neat Gabriel Martinelli flick to seal the points with his 10th goal of the campaign.
Rodrigo Muniz pulled one back three minutes into stoppage-time to set up a grandstand finish, but we managed to see out the final stages to secure back-to-back wins over west London neighbours either side of the international break.
In 32 previous meetings in N5 in all competitions, we had never lost to Fulham, the most we’ve faced a side without ever tasting defeat on home soil, and that record never looked to be in too much danger.
Much like the previous encounter at Craven Cottage in December, we dominated the possession and territory stats with Fulham’s back five set out to stifle us. But our backline required a reshuffle just 15 minutes in when Gabriel pulled up with what looked to be a hamstring injury, with Jakob Kiwior taking his place.
Despite suffering that blow one week away from our Champions League date with Real Madrid, we didn’t let it unnerve us and Ethan Nwaneri came close to opening the scoring when he struck a Gabriel Martinelli cross on the volley and forced Bernd Leno to beat the blast away.
Amidst a quiet, fragmented half of football punctuated by stoppages, we kept our patience, and it paid off on 37 minutes when we grabbed a lead to take into the break with us.
Nwaneri escaped past Antonee Robinson on the left flank and cut the ball back to Merino inside the box. After taking a couple of touches to get it under control, the Spaniard saw his shot deflect off Jorge Cuanca a creep into the bottom corner of Leno’s goal and net his sixth goal in his last 10 games for club and country.
A one-goal lead was much appreciated against a side who had arrived in north London with ambitions of achieving a first-ever top six finish this term, and who had won three of their last four on their travels, and seven minutes after the restart the Cottagers showed some threat when Raul Jimenez nearly netted for a third-straight game against us but David Raya was equal to his effort.
The ball went straight down the other end and a vicious strike by Jurrien Timber after he worked a one-two with Martin Odegaard left Leno winded as it smashed into his midriff, and then our set pieces began to cause Fulham problems with Martinelli and Merino both seeing efforts flicked away from goal by defenders.
On 66 minutes Emirates Stadium was on its feet as Saka made his return after 101 days out injured and received a roar as loud as the one that greeted Merino’s goal, but that was beaten eight minutes later when he picked up where he left off before Christmas.
Martinelli initiated an attack after speeding down the left and found Merino. His cross was then flicked on acrobatically by the Brazilian towards the back post, where Saka simply had to stoop to nod the ball past Leno and write his fairytale return.
With 10 minutes to go Jimenez missed a gilt-edged chance to get his side back in the game when he miscued a header with the goal gaping, and late on Martinelli thought he’d got the goal his performance deserved when he slipped an Odegaard pass past Leno but was just offside.
Nerves began to jangle three minutes into six allotted minutes of added on time when two substitutes combined to reduce the deficit. Ryan Sessegnon broek forward and found Muniz inside the box, and his scuffed effort bobbled off William Saliba and dribbled into the net as Raya saw his clean sheet vanish.
But the damage had already been done, on what will always be remembered as a special night for Saka.
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