HIGHLIGHTS | Arsenal vs Fulham (2-1) | Saka, Merino | Premier League

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