{"id":46642,"date":"2026-05-02T14:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T18:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/expert-says-arsenal-star-produced-best-ever-performance-in-first-half-as-gunners-beat-fulham-3-0\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T14:16:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T18:16:32","slug":"expert-says-arsenal-star-produced-best-ever-performance-in-first-half-as-gunners-beat-fulham-3-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/expert-says-arsenal-star-produced-best-ever-performance-in-first-half-as-gunners-beat-fulham-3-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert says Arsenal star produced &#8216;best-ever&#8217; performance in first half as Gunners beat Fulham 3-0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/expert-says-arsenal-star-produced-best-ever-performance-in-first-half-as-gunners-beat-fulham-3-0\/#Howell_%E2%80%98Viktor_Gokeres_is_the_best_thing_hes_ever_played_for_Arsenal\" >Howell: &#8216;Viktor Gokeres is the best thing he&#8217;s ever played for Arsenal&#8217;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/expert-says-arsenal-star-produced-best-ever-performance-in-first-half-as-gunners-beat-fulham-3-0\/#Wayne_Rooney_praises_Gokeres\" >Wayne Rooney praises Gokeres<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Arsenal forward Victor Gokeres has given his best performance in an Arsenal shirt, according to BBC reporter Alex Howell.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Sweden international was at the heart of a relentless first-half battle as the Gunners crushed Fulham in their quest for the Premier League title.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Download the official CaughtOffSide app to get all the latest news and updates straight to your phone. above <span role=\"presentation\"><u>apple<\/u><\/span>  &#038; <span role=\"presentation\"><u>Google play<\/u><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Howell_%E2%80%98Viktor_Gokeres_is_the_best_thing_hes_ever_played_for_Arsenal\"><\/span>Howell: &#8216;Viktor Gokeres is the best thing he&#8217;s ever played for Arsenal&#8217;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Speaking from the Emirates Stadium during the half-time break, BBC Sport&#8217;s Alex Howell praised the clinical nature of Arsenal&#8217;s attack.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on Gokeres&#8217; strong first half performance, he said (via BBC Sport):<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That first half was Arsenal&#8217;s best performance in recent weeks. Saka&#8217;s presence makes a big difference to the way they attack. That was Gokeres&#8217; best performance and Arsenal&#8217;s best.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fulham&#8217;s defense struggled to contain the movement of their front three and offered little resistance.<\/p>\n<p>Howell suggested that barring a dramatic second-half collapse, a dominant opening 45 minutes should be more than enough for Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side to win the game and move six points clear at the top of the table.<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8220;Unless something dramatic happens in the second half, this should be enough for Arsenal to go into this game with a six-point lead.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 data-path-to-node=\"5\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Wayne_Rooney_praises_Gokeres\"><\/span>Wayne Rooney praises Gokeres<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Wayne Rooney joined in the praise, stressing the importance of the traditional number nine in the high-pressure run-in of the title race.<\/p>\n<p>Rooney stressed that the Swede provides a focus that Arsenal sometimes lacked in previous seasons. He told BBC One (via BBC Sport):<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I liked Gokeres all season. I think he has done very well for the team. He plays as a defender and I think his goals this season have been good. This is the time when we need him, the run-in. This is what you need when you bring a number nine to the club. Now is the time when you need them the most.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite putting up decent numbers, his future remains uncertain with suggestions that Arsenal are open to selling him.<\/p>\n<p>A win would extend their lead to six points, so the pressure will be on Man City to catch up again, even though there are only two games left.<\/p>\n<p>It will be a fierce title battle that could last until the final day of the season.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal forward Victor Gokeres has given his best performance in an Arsenal shirt, according to BBC reporter Alex Howell. The Sweden international was at the heart of a relentless first-half battle as the Gunners crushed Fulham in their quest for the Premier League title. Download the official CaughtOffSide app to get all the latest news [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-46642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}