One Arsenal player was ‘begging for the ball’ vs Fulham but his teammates ‘ignored’ him

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Arsenal were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Fulham in the Premier League.

Mikel Arteta’s side, for some reason, have struggled against the Cottagers. They are winless in their last three and have picked up just two victories in the previous six meetings.

Arsenal were dominant from the first minute of the game until the last against Fulham on Sunday, but that still wasn’t good enough for all three points.

We can point the finger at a lot of things, but there was a pattern throughout the game that frustrated us the most at Craven Cottage.

Arsenal players ‘largely ignored’ Leandro Trossard vs Fulham

Leandro Trossard started ahead of Gabriel Martinelli when Arsenal faced Fulham on Sunday.

Arteta has rotated heavily on the left flank in recent weeks. Neither player has nailed down the position to become an undisputed starter, and that has been a problem.

Arsenal Insider gave Trossard a 6/10 rating for his performance – he wasn’t awful by any means, but he was stuck on the left flank when most of the attacks came from the opposite side.

That has been a problem for a long time under Arteta, but it was particularly frustrating against Fulham because there were times when there was a lot of space on the left wing.

The Daily Mail spotted how ‘Trossard was often begging for the ball in acres of space’, but for one reason or another, ‘his cries were largely ignored’ by his teammates.

Bukayo Saka gets all the praise in the world for his performances on the right wing and rightly so, but the Englishman receives the ball a lot more than his teammate on the opposite side.

That does create an imbalance, and Trossard, frustratingly, experienced that once again on Sunday.

READ MORE: Arsenal fans have surprise response to Leandro Trossard contract update – they’re spot on

Mikel Arteta deserves some blame for two players’ struggles at Arsenal

Arteta has come under a lot of criticism following the draw against Fulham, but we think most of that is unwarranted – he didn’t get it as wrong as some people claim.

Yes, the Gunners could’ve done better in many areas, but the Arsenal manager set his side out to dominate from start to finish, and they did just that. The players have to take responsibility too.

However, Arteta has to put his hands up and admit that he is getting things wrong on the left flank – this has been the case for over a year now.

Both Trossard and Martinelli are struggling on that side of the pitch. They don’t get on the ball enough and even when they do, it’s too late because the midfielders, more often than not, find them when the opposition right-back is in a good position.

To make things worse, Declan Rice as a left-sided number eight just doesn’t offer the same kind of movement and support that Martin Odegaard does on the opposite side.

That makes Trossard and Martinelli’s job a lot harder, and that is exactly why they have been struggling.