Fulham overplayed and struggled in Arsenal thrashing in their worst performance of the season

They can be surpassed and sometimes outplayed, but they are seldom overcome. You were comfortable here at Craven Cottage.

Marco Silva’s side met leaders with the Manchester City beast breathing down their necks. Arsenal know they can’t slip and Fulham kindly allowed them to run free and score freely.

The Cottagers last beat Arsenal in 2012 and since then the Gunners had won seven of the nine games that led to that clash. It’s a game that historically has been very one sided and those 90 minutes played out the same way.

It should concern Marco Silva – and it will concern Fulham fans – how easily Arsenal’s flowing front three of Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli found it to pick them apart and stare in the face of former team-mate Bernd Leno.

Arsenal are top of the league, true, but such a weak defense would cost Fulham against most teams in the division. This was a game they lost as well as one won by Mikel Arteta’s dazzling arsenal.

Antonee Robinson in particular experienced a hot afternoon. He found his own net after 16 minutes but the VAR spared his blush when he found assistant Gabriel Martinelli offside.

The decision gave Fulham and Robinson a lifeline, although they were unable to use it to their advantage. Arsenal soon had the advantage as Gabriel beat four uncommunicative Fulham players in the air to head in the opening game.

Soon it was two, then three, and it wasn’t until half-time came that Fulham’s unforced errors subsided and Arsenal’s despondency subsided.

Fulham were better in the second half but that was an improvement from a very low base. They visit Manchester United in their first FA Cup quarter-final since 2010 next weekend. They simply cannot perform similarly to this one. If they do, they’ll be out.