Arsenal Vs Fulham: The Unai Emery project is underway

Arsenal carved open Fulham on their way to a 5-1 victory in their best performance of the season. The Unai Emery project is most certainly underway.

Sunday’s 5-1 win over Fulham may well have been Arsenal’s ninth in succession in all competitions, but it had a very different, instigating, birthing sense to it that none of the others had. This felt like the start of something, not the continuation of a rather impressive winning streak. The Unai Emery era has now begun.

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In the other eight wins, the result has belied the quality of the performance. Although it has been encouraging to see the team win games that they may not deserve to, a characteristic that wasn’t really present under Arsene Wenger, the underlying processes have been a little concerning. The recent run is not repeatable.

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But this one did not just provide hope because of the result. The performance to go along with it was excellent, the best under Emery thus far. There were some defensive vulnerabilities in the first half that were exploited, particularly for the goal and from wide areas, but the offensive firepower that was on display was breathtaking. Five goals away from home against any team in the Premier League is good going indeed.

The goals were just a part of the attacking masterclass. Arsenal were wonderfully fluent throughout the 90 minutes, playing a kind of 4-4-2 shape that afforded the attacking players the freedom to drift into other areas. Officially, Danny Welbeck played in behind Alexandre Lacazette. But such was the freedom given to Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan on either flank, it was not rare to see Welbeck pop up in wide spaces. The only constant was Alexandre Lacazette through the middle.

In previous outings, this freedom of movement has upset the shape of the team and slowed down the play — the combination of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil all playing out of position has been hugely detrimental to the flow of the team. But here, it clicked. This was a very different win to those of recent weeks.

And then there was the security and protection provided by the double-pivot midfield of Lucas Torreira, who was absolutely phenomenal in a game-breaking role, making six interceptions in total, which is the most of any Arsenal player in a single game this season, and Granit Xhaka. The pair were strong without the ball and calm with it, controlling the pattern of the match beautifully.

Other than the number of chances that Fulham were allowed in the first half, including a poor goal that stemmed straight from a Nacho Monreal giveaway, this was almost a complete performance. There was very little wrong with it, that is for sure. It felt like the ushering in of a new era.

The project that was spoken of when Emery was first announced in the summer was always going to be a long haul. It is a project, after all. But if anyone was disappointed by the start to the Emery era so far this season, then after this performance, there should be no feeling of being let down. The Emery project is underway.