Arsenal 3 Fulham 1:Fulham are being dragged into the relegation churn as if by a kraken from the deep. They were seized by the tentacles of fear even after four minutes here yesterday, when Julio Baptista stepped into the land between Philippe Christanval and Liam Rosenior to head in the opening goal.
But the reaction of the Fulham team suggests they are unaware or uncaring that theirs is a sinking ship. Though they improved after half-time, there was not enough of the urgency their predicament requires.
With Saturday's results having qualified Arsenal for the Champions League even before a ball was kicked here, this was a match that had an end-of-season pallor, though it should have been flushed with Fulham's fevered pulses.
Despite being two places above relegation they have won fewer matches than everyone but Watford this season and have secured only four points from the past 30 available. Yet this was as if they arrived expecting to lose, anticipating that Saturday's home match against Liverpool or the final-day trip to Middlesbrough will be their lifeline.
To rely on the Middlebrough fixture would be folly: Fulham have won only two of their past 38 matches away from home. Given the starkness of a potentially disastrous situation that Fulham's caretaker manager, Lawrie Sanchez, describes as having "crept up on them", he admitted his team's lack of effort had disappointed him. "That was strange and, to be honest, I wasn't very happy with it," he said.
"I think there was perhaps too much respect for a team like Arsenal and they didn't want to get isolated. We could have been out of the equation at half-time."
Nevertheless they were not and 12 minutes from time there did seem to be some hope to Fulham's situation but even that was due to a goalkeeping error. Jens Lehmann advanced to the edge of his penalty area to challenge Heidar Helguson for a high ball but his weak punch directed the ball only as far as Simon Davies.
The former Tottenham player's lob hung in the air and bounced behind the goalline for the equaliser. "We shall not be moved," sang Fulham's supporters, but their emotions would be stirred soon enough.
Moments after Clint Dempsey had headed over Davies's corner, Michael Brown made his way into the Arsenal box. But Lehmann's near-post save was the platform for a breakaway goal.
Cesc Fabregas provided the through-ball for Adebayor to chase and, turning Christanval with a body swerve, the Togolese striker swept his shot past Antti Niemi. Moritz Volz's clumsy foul on Alexander Hleb gave the scoreline a more realistic feel, since it was punished by the penalty Gilberto converted.
It was cruellest on Niemi, whose reflexes had kept his team in the game. After an unchallenged lope down the wing, Adebayor found Hleb who prodded it to Fabregas. The Spain international then fired a ferocious shot that seemed to have the Finn wrongfooted until he flung himself to his left to claw it away. Three minutes later the excellent Gael Clichy sent in a cross that wreaked more havoc.
Adebayor peeled off too easily from Christanval to head firmly at goal but Niemi was again the saviour, pushing the ball round the post.
Sanchez admitted there was cause to tremble. "Everyone's nervous down the bottom," he said. "So much rides on it, the staff, the players and the fans, everyone associated with the club. I have to try to show them a way to get back into it."
Fulham's need for inspiration is clearly pressing: "Our destiny is in our own hands, unlike how it is for West Ham and Charlton," said Sanchez, but his team are so anaemic they seem incapable of shaping their fate favourably.
Guardian Service
