Arsenal vs. Fulham: 5 Things Both Sides Learned in the Draw at the Emirates

Arsenal and Fulham fought out a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium after a pair of Thomas Vermaelen goals in the second half, one at each end.

The Gunners went with Andrey Arshavin and Theo Walcott each side of goal scorer supreme Robin van Persie, while in defence, Johan Djourou played on the right in place of Laurent Koscielny.

Fulham swapped John Arne Riise for Aaron Hughes in defence, while the injured Damien Duff was replaced by Costa Rican forward Bryan Ruiz.

It was a case of defences on top in the first half as neither side dominated or fashioned clear opportunities, but the game opened up a little more in the second half—especially after Vermaelen tried to clear a Fulham chance, only to see the ball end up in his own net.

The Belgian was a relieved man later on though as he surged forward to head home Arsenal's equaliser as the game drew to a close.

Here are five things each side learned from the game at the Emirates Stadium.

Robin van Persie or Nobody: Arsenal Forwards Draw a Blank Again

Robin van Persie failed to find the net for seemingly the first time since about 2005 against Fulham, and it was left to centre-back Thomas Vermaelen to rescue a point for the Gunners, after the same player had earlier scored an own goal.

The Dutch master had a few sighters of goal but nothing too clear, so perhaps it will be something of a concern to Arsene Wenger that his other attackers failed to unduly trouble Fulham stopper Mark Schwarzer in van Persie's absence on the score sheet.

Theo Walcott, Gervinho, Andrey Arshavin, Park Chu-Young, Marouane Chamakh; between them, Arsenal's other forwards have netted a rather paltry six goals in the Premier League—less than half of van Persie's personal tally so far.

If the Gunners are to improve their standing and claim a top four spot come the end of the season, that statistic is going to have to undergo a major overhaul.

At 39 Years of Age Mark Schwarzer Is Still One of the Top Goalkeepers in the EPL

There are several goalkeepers plying their trade in the Premier League at the moment who are old enough to not even consider themselves "veterans" any more but indeed come under a whole other bracket.

Brad Friedel, Shay Given, Jussi Jaaskelainen and Thomas Sorensen are all still going strong heading into their late 30's—and beyond in Friedel's case—but Schwarzer is up there with the finest of them and proved it again today with a string of good saves and one or two top-drawer ones.

Beaten by Thomas Vermaelen's late header, which he could do nothing about, he nonetheless kept Fulham ahead until that point, with his flying save from Johan Djourou in particular a memorable moment for him.

Slow-Tempo Midfield Costs Arsenal the Crack at Victory

A sluggish first-half performance from the Gunners, and in particular their midfield, saw Arsenal really struggle to up the tempo later on and push on to force the issue and trouble the Fulham back-line.

Mikel Arteta was virtually anonymous the entire match, which is a disappointment for such a creative midfielder in a game in which he should have had a lot of time and space on the ball because of the slow nature of the fixture.

Ultimately Alex Song was moved back to defence and Aaron Ramsey was substituted, but the entire midfield had an off day against Fulham, and that as much as anything else cost Arsenal the chance to have a real go at taking all three points.

Fulham Lack Cutting Edge in Attack

Martin Jol went with a forward line of Bobby Zamora and Moussa Dembele, supported from the flanks by Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz. They struggled to really stretch the Arsenal defence at any point in the match and only really looked a threat when Dembele picked up the ball in deeper positions and tried to run at the Gunners' back-line.

Zamora is hard-working and has a decent shot but lacks pace or guile to really trouble top teams and must be delighted at having somehow gotten into the England squad on a regular basis recently. Although, he never troubled Per Mertesacker and Thomas Vermaelen today.

Ruiz has struggled to adapt to the Premier League thus far and again had little impact against the Gunners, while Dempsey was not his usual effervescent self in and around the penalty box.

Fulham have enough players that they should not overly struggle as the season continues, and it would be a surprise to see them at the bottom end of the table come March/April, but none of their starters really stands out or is capable of netting so many goals that they could fire them to the upper echelon of the Premier League.

Arsenal Go French-Less!

Arsene Wenger chose the following starting line up against Fulham:

Szczesny, Djourou, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Santos, Song, Arteta, Walcott, Ramsey, Arshavin, van Persie.

Notice anything about it?

Not a single French player was contained in the Arsenal team—for the first time in six years!

With Laurent Koscielny, Abou Diaby, Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh named on the bench, there was still plenty of French-speaking players about the squad, but today's selection represents quite a turnaround from the days of Arsenal's squad being utterly dominated by French players, such as Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira, Remi Garde, Thierry Henry, Gilles Grimandi and a whole host of others.

It Would Be a Surprise If Brede Hangeland Remained at Fulham for Much Longer

Strong in the air, measured in the tackle, and a good reader of the game, Brede Hangeland has been a real find for Fulham, and his organisational skills have ensured their defence remains difficult enough to breach this season, despite their lowly league status.

Hangeland also displayed his cool on-the-ball talents against Arsenal on a number of occasions, passing the ball out of defence and even taking on the odd attacker when he calculated the risk could be taken.

With several higher-placed teams looking, or at least rumoured to be looking, at strengthening their defensive lines over the coming months, Hangeland might well figure highly on several scouting lists and Fulham could find a big offer difficult to turn down, perhaps they'll pull the trigger in the summer rather than in January, though.

A Third of the Way Through the Season, Arsenal Lie 3 Points off the CL Places

Already qualified and guaranteed top spot from their Champions League group with a game to spare, Arsenal are comfortable and regular competitors in Europe's top competition, but they are going to have to improve further still over the next two-thirds of the season if they are to be in it again next term.

The Gunners lie fifth in the Premier League after a third of the campaign and will drop to sixth should Liverpool take a point or more from their game against Manchester City.

Three points separate Arsenal from fourth-place Newcastle United, and despite having made up a lot of ground after their poor start to the season, Arsene Wenger knows his side will have to do much more to claim a top four spot.

While the Magpies may drop off as the season continues, Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea will all be massive rivals for a top four spot as well as the two Manchester clubs. Arsenal still have work to do to ensure they get one of those places.

Draw Kings Fulham Will Be Satisfied with Another Single Point

With six draws in the opening 13 games of the season, Martin Jol could perhaps be forgiven for being somewhat irked at the end result against Arsenal.

However, not too many teams will pick up good results at the Emirates Stadium this season—until this game, Arsenal had won five and lost just one, against Liverpool, at home—and Fulham's next match is against Liverpool, another tough fixture, so Jol will be happy to keep the points tally ticking over with another draw.

Fulham only have two wins so far this term, but their high number of draws means they have lost only five games, a similar number to teams around the mid-table positions such as Norwich (ninth, five losses) and QPR (11th, six losses).

Convert the odd draw to a win and Fulham should fly a few places up the table and be much more comfortable.

Andre Santos Continues to Flatter to Deceive at Left-Back

A £7 million signing in the summer for Arsenal from Fenerbahce, Andre Santos was brought in to replace the outgoing Gael Clichy.

Clichy maybe didn't win over all the Gunners faithful with a few dodgy defensive displays, but it can hardly be argued that Santos has improved Arsenal in that position since arriving in England.

His running is somewhat laboured at the best of times and he is certainly not as fleet of foot as Clichy was, and though at times the Brazilian flair shines through when he is on the ball he is nowhere near as cultured or accomplished in possession as the best in his position and of his nationality.

He has not yet had oodles of time to adapt to the Premier League and could quite possibly improve in leaps and bounds. Until now at least, he is certainly not reaching the heights that might have been expected of him.

Bryan Ruiz Continues to Disappoint After Big-Money Move Despite Another Start

A £10.5 million transfer on deadline day in the summer, Bryan Ruiz was expected to provide some real thrust and goal threat from the flanks for Fulham.

However, after just a single Premier League goal after his first three months in English football, Ruiz—or Bryan as he has on his shirt—is yet to get to grips with the faster pace of the Premier League or even cement his place in Fulham's starting XI.

Against Arsenal, he never got into the game on a regular basis and hasn't yet shown that he can link up with his attacking teammates too well.

As the season goes on, Fulham and Martin Jol will be looking for much, much more from their record signing.