Sidwell sent off as Arsenal beat Fulham

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Fulham 0 Arsenal 1

Per Mertesacker’s first-half goal was enough to see off 10-man Fulham, who had Steve Sidwell sent off again.

The Whites were forced to play 78 minutes a man short after Sidwell, only just back from a three-match suspension, was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud was also red-carded in the 90th minute for a similar challenge on Stanislav Manolev.

Fulham had chances in the first half, with Dimitar Berbatov and Urby Emanuelson forcing decent saves from Wojciech Szcznesy.

But Arsenal scored just before the interval when Laurent Koscielny headed Theo Walcott’s free-kick back across goal and Mertesacker headed home.

Giroud had hit the post just minutes earlier with a low shot across Mark Schwarzer, who was making his 500th Premier League appearance.

Shortly before Giroud’s dismissal, Manolev had the ball in the net when he poked in from close range after Szczesny had spilled a Kieran Richardson free-kick, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

Fulham:(4-4-1-1): Schwarzer, Manolev, Senderos, Hangeland, Richardson; Emanuelson (Frei 87), Sidwell, Enoh, Kacaniklic (Petric 85); Ruiz; Berbatov.
Subs not used: Etheridge, Riise, Karagounis, Hughes, Rodallega.

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