Gunners defeats Fulham in a 3-1 victory

Arsenal defeated Fulham to earn their first victory of the new EPLseason with a convincing victory .

Arsene Wenger and the players will walk into a much more amiable atmosphere after the match than they did last weekend; despite Darren Bent's second half goal, there were no signs of capitulation or imminent disaster from a threadbare Gunners side.
All talk of of new signings aside, fans should be very encouraged by the team's performance. Now Arsenal must transfer this positive momentum to the midweek Champions League qualifier against Fenerbahce and the North London Derby next weekend.

SQUAD 

Fulham: Stockdale; Riether, Hangeland, Hughes, Riise; Kasami, Parker, Taarabt (Kacaniklic 62'); Duff (Bent 59'), Sidwell (Karagounis 75'), Berbatov Subs: Etheridge, Ruiz, Kacaniklic, Karagounis, Briggs, Boateng, Bent

Arsenal: Szczesny; Jenkinson, Sagna, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Ramsey, Cazorla, Rosicky (Wilshere 70'); Walcott, Podolski (Sanogo 82'), Giroud (Monreal 72') Subs: Fabianski, Wilshere, Monreal, Sanogo, Frimpong, Gnabry, Zelalem

SCORELINE 

Fulham 1-3 Arsenal

Giroud 14'
Podolski 41', 68'
Bent 77'

Villa stun Arsenal in the opener

Arsenal started their campaign with a defeat that could be a hurdle in the already complicated purchase of Luis Suarez.
Arsenal started postively by keeping possession and bossing Aston Villa and took just six minutes to take the lead at the Emirates Stadium, thanks to Olivier Giroud, but that was as good as it got for the Gunners as Villa made it a miserable season opener for them. Christian Benteke saw his penalty saved by Wojciech Szczesny midway through the first half but put in the rebound, while a second spot-kick was more routinely dispatched on the hour mark.

The first goal resulted in shifting of gears in favour of Villa which leads to Laurent Koscielny being booked for the foul which led to that latter penalty, and six minutes later he received another yellow and, thus, the first red card of the Premier League season.
 Arsenal committed men forward late in the game as they sought to steal a point back, forcing Brad Guzan into a top-class save of a shot by Santi Cazorla, before a fast counterattack saw Antonio Luna race clear and calmly finish the third goal.

Stats
 Shots: 15-11
 On target: 4-6
 Possession: 64%-36%
 Passing: 87%-70%