The good news is that things went better for Arsenal than last season. The bad news is that their winning streak was ended with four straight wins and they missed the opportunity to put pressure on leaders Liverpool. And what was even worse: in the 89th minute they were denied the winning goal by a narrow – but correct – VAR offside call.

Liverpool may feel that the postponement of Saturday’s Merseyside derby was a welcome respite from the rigors of the festive program, with six players missing injured and Everton failing four times against Wolves on Wednesday.

However, it also gave Arsenal the opportunity to reduce the deficit to four, which even after one more game doesn’t seem nearly as daunting as seven. As it stands, the gap is six points and Liverpool still have a game in hand. At the moment it’s all about Arne Slot.

It was this game last season that did crucial damage to Arsenal’s title bid. When the lead over the champions is just two points at the end of the season, any slip-ups are crucial, but this game on New Year’s Eve seemed the most significant to me, even more so as it came on the heels of an unexpected 2-0 home defeat to West Ham. However, what happened at Craven Cottage was even worse, if only because Arsenal took the lead after five minutes and were comfortable before Raúl Jiménez’s equalizer and subsequent collapse.

The impact may not be as big this season and considering how well Fulham are playing at the moment you can’t expect any team to get an away win over them, but still there was no escaping the feeling of momentum fading withdraw.

Arsenal have improved greatly since the return of Martin Ødegaard four games ago, but they appeared to be in danger of faltering again when Jiménez gave Fulham the lead after 11 minutes.

To some extent the damage was self-inflicted as Jakub Kiwior inexplicably drifted towards the ball, offering Kenny Tete the opportunity to slide a pass through Jiménez, who finished with crisp aplomb. Much of that first half went exactly as you might imagine Marco Silva had planned: Arsenal had the majority of possession but managed very little.

Sasa Lukic, who played alongside Sander Berge, played a central role. He is a player who is so much happier out of possession than with the ball that you can almost feel the relief in the Fulham fans when he is tackled because it means he can get on with what he does best can: rush in to win the ball back. Antonee Robinson, Fulham’s always impressive right-back, also had a good game. While others tend to keep Bukayo Saka in check, he aggressively attacked him after winning the duel.

Fulham’s other success in the first half was neutralizing Arsenal’s threat of a dead ball, thanks in large part to Adama Traoré, standing next to William Saliba at the back post, intercepting his man with a powerful forearm, sending him running could prevent the goalkeeper. Maybe it’s not necessarily legal to own, but neither is much of what happens on corners these days. The entire 18-yard box has become a huge gray area. Four inswingers before half-time, three from Saka and one from Declan Rice, posed no greater threat to Fulham’s goal than Bernd Leno having to clumsily bat the ball away as it appeared to fly straight into the goal.

But there’s a reason why Arsenal fans are chanting the name of their set-piece coach, Nicolas Jover. The first corner Arsenal received in the second half was not aimed at one of the big defenders, but at Kai Hazertz. He headed down and when Saliba came into the middle, he shook off Traoré and, despite remaining just a fraction onside, converted the ball into the goal – Arsenal’s 23rd goal from a corner since the start of last season.

However, Fulham remained resolute, even though Thomas Partey headed narrowly wide from another corner. However, Arsenal’s threat remained largely limited to set pieces. Which isn’t really a criticism; After a long period of being a team that had to dominate games to win them, they now have the ability to win even when the rhythm isn’t quite right or against teams who defend as well as Fulham.

And Arsenal appeared to have succeeded when Gabriel Martinelli’s cross was headed at the back post by Saka, but the VAR intervened. The Brazilian was – just – ahead of Fulham’s deepest defender. Liverpool’s lead remains huge.