Fulham boss Marco Silva praised the resilience shown by his Fulham side in our 2-2 draw at Arsenal on Saturday.
In a topsy-turvy encounter, Andreas Pereira fired us in front after a loose Bukayo Saka pass on 57 seconds, but two goals in three second half minutes turned the tide in the home team’s favour, with their grip then strengthed by Calvin Bassey’s red card.
Nonetheless, the Whites dug deep and earned a deserved share of the spoils when João Palhinha turned in Harrison Reed’s 87th minute corner.
“After the last defeat that we had against Brentford at home – a harsh, harsh result for us – we wanted to react,” Silva explained. “Many people thought that this is not the best place to show a reaction, [but] our idea was completely different – it was going to be the best place for us to show a reaction.
“We have great respect for Arsenal. In my opinion they are going to be even stronger than last season, the quality that they have in their squad is impressive, and they are going to be clear contenders again.
“Leading the score really early with that pressure moment from ourselves, that we took advantage from the bad pass, was really good for us.
“The end of the first half was tough, I think we started better the second half, our first pressure was better. Arsenal did not create many chances before the penalty.
“They changed, they put more quality in with the two changes they made, and they won the penalty and the game changed completely in that moment. They scored really quick for 2-1, in a moment that has to be a foul on Calvin Bassey.
“And of course after came the red card for Calvin, and created a big, big problem for us. After that moment, we really showed the resilience and the ambition, and the quality in some moments as well to keep working hard to try to get the result, that I believe we deserved.
“All credit for the players, because it's not easy after conceding 2-1, to start playing with 10 men.
“After we equalised the game, we showed our resilience, our braveness and organisation, with five at the back, 5-3-1, to defend our box, and we did it.
“We had that chance for Adama in the last moments of the game, but we showed the resilience and the organisation to defend our box well.”
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