Mertesacker sealed the deal for the Gunners at Craven Cottage

Looking clumsy, unmotivated and maybe jaded after the frustration at Emirates on Tuesday, Arsene Wenger witnessed another unconvincing victory for Arsenal. They never made use of the extra man on the field, but Per Mertesacker clinched the afternoon with the only goal of the match, sending Arsenal back on top of their London rivalries Chelsea and Tottenham, who both have two games in hand.

Steve Sidwell's silly tackle left Andre Marriner with no choice but sending him to an early bath only 12 minutes into the match, but Fulham did not back down with 10 men and looked even more promising on counter attacks. Dimitar Berbatov had the best chance for Fulham. Urby Emanuelson timed his pass perfectly to release Berbatov, whose shot under pressure did not have the angle to beat Wojciech Szczesny.

Sidwell left Fulham a very deep hole to dig out of

Having not been living up to expectation, Emanuelson may have produced his best performance since arriving at Craven Cottage. The former Ajax and AC Milan midfielder looked even livelier when Martin Jol's side was down to 10 men. Szczesny had to be called upon to deny Emanuelson’s curling shot after he stole Nacho Monreal's ball at the edge of Arsenal's box.

The physical treatment by the Toffees in midweek seemed to have slowed down Arsenal's attack. Resting Jack Wilshere left the Gunners operate without the main engine in midfield. Arsenal's inability to create made a draw at half time unarguably the fair result, but the careless Bryan Ruiz let go of Laurent Koscielny in a freekick and saw Mertesacker converted the squaring header from his centreback partner.

It might be harsh to blame Ruiz, who is never a natural defender, but a collective team effort in defence is always required to stop teams of Arsenal's quality, particularly with a man down already. Maybe the finger should be pointed back at Sidwell. A fierce tackle in the attacking half was needless and was not something you expect from a veteran.

Martin Jol had a quarter of an hour to re-establish his side and he had indeed done it very well. Having not seen most of the possession, Fulham was still the more threatening side in the second half. Anchorman Eyong Enoh did not only sit deep but was often able to minimise the pressure on defence by quickly winning the loose balls.

Wilshere and Podolski were sent on, hoping to regain the control of tempo. Instead, Fulham was the first to find the net. Szczesny parried Kieran Richardson's freekick, only went as far as to right back Manolev. The Bulgarian managed to beat Szczesny but was ruled offside.  

Olivier Giroud was given the marching order for a dangerous tackle minutes before the end, but the final drama did not do much harm to the Gunners. Having even not tested Schwarzer after half time, three points are all they need to get back to just behind the Manchester duo in the league.