Gunners pile on misery for Cottagers
Wenger's side are hoping to overtake Liverpool into third place
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Sunday, 29, Apr 2007 06:30
Two goals in the final seven minutes gave Arsenal a 3-1 win over Fulham at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners looked to have blown their chance of victory after Simon Davies had cancelled out Julio Baptista's early goal.
But Emmanuel Adebayor and a penalty from Gilberto Silva in the closing stages extends the Gunners' unbeaten run to five matches.
The result sees Arsene Wenger's side close the gap on third-placed Liverpool to a point while the Cottagers are just one point away from the drop zone.
The hosts made the perfect start when Baptista, whose future at the Gunners is still to be resolved, nodded in Adebayor's early cross for his tenth goal of the season.
Arsenal then bombarded the Fulham goal with shots including when Baptista screwed his shot wide from Cesc Fabregas' pass on 15 minutes.
Fulham's best chance of the half came on 20 minutes with Liam Rosenior whacking a half-volley from distance inches over the bar.
On the half-hour mark, goalkeeper Anti Niemi produced a stunning reaction save to keep out Fabregas' low shot.
Two minutes later, the Finn sprung to his left to keep out Adebayor's towering header from Gael Clichy's pinpoint cross.
Arsenal continued to frustrate the home fans in the second-half by failing to kill the game off.
Adebayor fired the ball wide with the goal at his mercy after Alexander Hleb's through ball on 48 minutes.
Thirteen minutes from time, the visitors punished Arsenal's wastefulness by equalising when Davies pounced on a blunder by Lehmann to send a lob over the German.
But on 83 minutes, Arsenal went 2-1 ahead when Fabregas bamboozled Philipe Christanval and fed Adebayor with the Togo striker slotting home into the bottom corner.
Four minutes from time, the north London side sealed victory when Michael Brown hacked down Hleb in the box.
Silva stepped up and slotted home the spot-kick for his tenth goal of the season.
The Gunners clash with Chelsea at home next weekend while Lawrie Sanchez's side face Liverpool at Craven Cottage.