Arsenal thrash Fulham

Arsenal responded to their thrashing by Liverpool in the best possible manner reeling off a routine 4-1 humbling of struggling Fulham in their Premier League clash on Tuesday.

Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka had set Arsenal on their way with his fourth goal of the season. Alexandre Lacazette added the second after 55 minutes with their momentum temporarily halted as Aboubakar Kamara pulled one back after 69 minutes.

However, Welshman Aaron Ramsey came off the bench to make it 3-1 eleven minutes from time and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added a fourth.

Arsenal have yet to keep a clean sheet since beating Huddersfield Town on December 8, but a second win in six matches saw them move on to 41 points two points off the Champions League places.

Fulham have shown little sign of a recovery under Claudio Ranieri since he took over from the sacked Slavisa Jokanovic and are second from bottom.

The visitors did have their chances early on to break the deadlock.

First Fulham captain Tom Cairney sent Ryan Sessegnon clear of defenders with the simplest of passes only for the England under-21 star to sidefoot his shot wide of Bernd Leno's goal.

Then Andre Schurrle hit a dangerous low cross from the left and Sessegnon ran in behind Sead Kolasinac only to miskick with the goal at his mercy.

Fulham paid dearly for that miss in the 25th minute as Arsenal exposed the defensive frailties that have blighted their season.

Alex Iwobi spotted Xhaka advancing unmarked into the penalty area and flighted the ball into his path.

The midfielder had all the time he needed to control the ball and poke it past Fulham goalkeeper Sergio Rico.