Despite the fact that Fulham's defense was easily dismantled by Arsenal's offensive players in Sunday's 3-0 victory, manager Mikel Arteta praised the defense for its efforts.
After a convincing win against Fulham in west London, Arsenal reclaimed a five-point lead over Manchester City atop the Premier League standings.
"It's that love for defending that 11 players have to be committed to for 96 minutes," Arteta said. "It's going to be crucial if we want to keep winning games."
A few days after Arteta bemoaned his team's previous easy goals, the Gunners won at Craven Cottage and kept a clean sheet.
Gabriel (age 25), Gabriel Martinelli (age 21), and captain Martin Odegaard (age 24) all scored goals to give the Gunners a 3-0 advantage at the interval.
Arsenal almost scored four, but VAR disallowed an own goal by Antonee Robinson (25), ruling it to be offside.
"Really happy," Arteta said after the win at Craven Cottage.
Moreover, with a total score of 11-0, Arsenal became the first top-flight side in English Football League history to win five straight away London derbies without giving up.
Arteta added: "It's a really tough place to come, (Fulham are) a really well organised team and I think we dominated the game, we created lots of chances, we kept a clean sheet and we won the game in a convincing way. So I'm very happy."
The Gunners will return to action in mid week when they host Sporting Lisbon in tr second leg of Europa League round of 16 clash.
If you recall that the first leg in Lisbon ended 2-2 but Arsenal will be boosted with return of Gabriel Jesus and Learndo Trossard who missed the first leg.
Jesus made his come back after four months injury in the final 13 minutes against Fulham on Sunday.
While Trossard who has been out with a groin injury made his return providing three assists.
Also, Martin Odegaard who missed the Sporting game due to an illness along with Kieran Tierney are back as they both featured in Gunners win over Fulham.
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