Joao Palhinha secured a point for 10-man Fulham in an entertaining Premier League draw at Arsenal.
Palhinha’s first-time finish from a corner in the 87th minute earned the away side a share of the spoils.
The Cottagers had Calvin Bassey sent off four minutes earlier after he fouled Eddie Nketiah on the counter-attack.
Andreas Pereira got Fulham off to a flying start, scoring after just 57 seconds.
Pereira latched onto a loose ball from Bukayo Saka and fired in a curling shot, with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale out of position.
Saka equalised from the penalty spot for the Gunners after Fabio Vieira was caught by Kenny Tete.
Nketiah scored Arsenal’s second as they came from behind to take the lead, before Fulham had the final word.
Arsenal’s defensive frailties on show again
A resilient performance against Crystal Palace on Monday saw the Gunners end with 10 men but all three points; however, they swiftly fell behind against Fulham.
Pereira’s finish meant Arsenal became the first team in Premier League history to concede a first-minute goal three times inside a calendar year.
Quickfire strikes from Saka and Nketiah midway through the second half saw Arsenal surge into the lead. After winning the penalty for the equaliser, Vieira found space on the left to drive in a low cross for substitute Nketiah to finish.
Yet even with Arsenal having a man advantage for the closing minutes, they could not see out the game. Palhinha was left unmarked and punished sloppy defending to snatch a point for Marco Silva’s team.
In games against Nottingham Forest and now Fulham, Arsenal have conceded in the last 15 minutes of the second half, with the defending that cost them towards the end of last season’s title challenge still an issue.
Takehiro Tomiyasu’s red card at Palace meant Jakub Kiwior came into Mikel Arteta’s home side, with Thomas Partey playing as a makeshift left-back, and it was clear to see the defence was unbalanced by the changes.
After getting into their winning position, Arsenal switched off and were punished.
Resilient Fulham earn important point
Silva’s side were on their way to losing consecutive London derbies before Palhinha’s late equaliser, having gone down to Brentford last time out.
It remains to be seen what the long-term impact is of losing last season’s top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic to Al-Hilal, but Fulham at least began and ended this game in style.
Scoring twice at Emirates Stadium and taking a point sounds positive, and it could have been even better. Summer recruit Raul Jimenez sent an acrobatic volley just over the goal as he narrowly missed a chance to open his account for Fulham.
The away side had done well to restrict Arsenal to half-chances but then conceded twice in quick succession, and the game looked to be slipping away from them.
The Cottagers had been incensed by Arsenal’s second goal, claiming Bassey was fouled near his own byeline by Saka. Silva was booked for his protestations.
Former Ajax defender Bassey was then shown a second yellow card with seven minutes remaining on his first start for the club.
Despite going down to 10 men for the second game in a row, having had Tim Ream dismissed last week, Fulham persevered and left Gunners boss Arteta with plenty of food for thought.