Wenger fumes as title dreams slip away

Arsenal's Thierry Henry (L) hits a volley toward the goal as Fulham's Moritz Volz (R) chases during the Premiership football match at Craven Cottage Bridge in London. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left fuming at the officials after his side crashed to 2-1 defeat at Fulham, a result which leaves their title hopes in tatters

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left fuming at the officials after his side crashed to 2-1 defeat at Fulham, a result which leaves their title hopes in tatters.

Wenger was unhappy with a decision which saw striker Thierry Henry's curling effort early in the second half -- which would have brought the scores level at 2-2 -- ruled out for offside.

"I must say that the coincidence of the decisions against us at the moment are very peculiar," said the 57-year-old French coach, whose side lost at Bolton and West Ham in their last two away games and now trail leaders Manchester United by 16 points.

"We can put it together with the penalty at West Ham but we have to live with it -- we cannot influence the referee."

An early glancing header from American striker Brian McBride followed by a tap-in from Tomasz Radzinski had given Fulham a shock 2-0 lead after 18 minutes before Robin van Persie pulled a goal back with a sweetly struck free-kick before the interval.

Swiss defender Philippe Senderos was sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the second half to compound Wenger's misery.

The Arsenal boss seemed shocked by the result, Fulham's first defeat over the north London club in 40 years.

"We weren't expecting the defeat," said Wenger. "The game was played at a high pace but we were 2-0 down early on.

"It is our third away defeat in a row. We cannot deny that but as with West Ham and Bolton we could have got a point."

Fulham boss Chris Coleman felt his side deserved the victory, which came after successive defeats for the west London club at the hands of Manchester City and promoted Reading.

Arsenal's Philippe Senderos (R) challenges Fulham's Brian McBride (L) during the Premiership football match at Craven Cottage Bridge in London. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left fuming at the officials after his side crashed to 2-1 defeat at Fulham, a result which leaves their title hopes in tatters

"I enjoyed it from start to finish," said the Welshman. "I thought we were magnificent and thoroughly deserved it.

"We should have been further in front at half-time from (Luis) Boa Morte when he got through and could have made it 3-0.

"We didn't sit back, we took the game to Arsenal and we could have had more goals.

"That was the best performance since I've been in charge."

Coleman was full of praise for ex-Arsenal striker Boa Morte, who ran the visiting defence ragged and created the second goal for Radzinski.

"He was a bit jaded after the World Cup but that was a captain's performance," said Coleman.

"He's been a very loyal player to us and he deserved tonight."

The Cottagers snatched the lead after just five minutes when Arsenal's recent vulnerability at defending corners was again exposed.

Claus Jensen's inswinging corner from the left was glanced goalwards by McBride, the ball sneaking past Mathieu Flamini on far post after a slight deflection from Jens Lehmann's outstretched hand.

Fulham doubled their lead on 19 minutes 2-0 when Boa Morte's cross from the left was bundled home by Radzinski, the striker receiving a nasty clout to the chin on the advertising hording as his momentum carried him off the pitch.

Alexandre Song, making his first Premiership start of the season, was booked on 25 minutes for blocking the recovering Radzinski just outside the area as Arsenal struggled to contain their rampant hosts.

Boa Morte should have wrapped up the points for the hosts on 34 minutes when he was left one-on-one with Lehmann but the Portuguese striker could only strike the ball straight at the German goalkeeper.

Referee Howard Webb (R) prepares to book Arsenal's Philippe Senderos for a challenge on Fulham's Tomasz Radzinski during the Premiership football match at Craven Cottage Bridge in London. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left fuming at the officials after his side crashed to 2-1 defeat at Fulham, a result which leaves their title hopes in tatters

Van Persie pulled a goal back for Wenger's men on 36 minutes when the Netherlands international curled an exquisite left-footed free-kick past Antti Niemi from 25 yards.

Senderos was then unlucky to be booked for a crunching challenge on Radzinski and Jensen could have made Arsenal pay but sent his whipped free-kick just wide of Lehmann's righthand upright.

Wenger replaced the ineffectual Song with Cesc Fabregas at half-time while Coleman brought on Wayne Routledge for the injured Radzinski.

Henry thought he had equalised when he curled home a beautiful finish only to see the goal disallowed for a marginal offside decision.

Wenger brought on Theo Walcott for Tomas Rosicky on the hour-mark but two minutes later the visitors were down to ten men when Senderos received a second caution for bringing down Boa Morte.

The Portuguese stepped up to take the free-kick himself and Lehmann looked on helplessly as it crashed back off the underside of the crossbar.

Alexsandr Hleb was replaced by defender Johan Djourou as Wenger attempted to shore up his defence before Walcott soon made an instant impact, hitting the outside of a post from Henry's pass, but Fulham held on for a famous victory.