Arsenal 4 - 0 Fulham: Bronze

Arsenal celebrates remembering how to score goals. Pic via Sky Sports.

Arsenal 4: Arshavin 21, van Persie 26, Baird 37 (og), Vela 84

Fulham 0

And a Happy St. Totteringham's Day, everyone, though it's belated by a day at this point.

After Arsenal lost 2-1 to Spurs in mid-April, the title was effectively out of reach. All Arsenal needed was a win or two, however, to at least secure third place in the league table, and with it, not just a guaranteed spot above Tottenham, but automatic qualification to next year's Champions League group stage.

Then, Arsenal blew a two goal lead at Wigan in ten minutes and lost. Then, an uninspired 0-0 draw with Manchester City where City never tried to score and Arsenal tried at most three times. Then, another lackluster effort, and a 2-1 loss at Blackburn.

Suddenly, a loss on the final day of the season coupled with a Spurs win against already relegated Burnley would've pushed our hated rivals into third place. No, things have not been very happy in Arsenal-land for the past month.

Thankfully, Arsenal's opponent at the Emirates yesterday, Fulham, have a more important game to worry about this coming Wednesday; they're in a European final against Atletico Madrid for the Europa League title. As such, Fulham clearly did not intend to put in their best effort in this London derby.

Arsenal struck first, as they have so often lately. This opener came in the 21st minute, as Chris Baird's back pass to Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer was met with a heavy trap from Schwarzer, right into the path of Andrei Arshavin. Arshavin carried the ball to the line as Schwarzer tried to slide back into position. The diminutive Russian's fancy footwork brought the keeper out of position yet again, and Arshavin pounded the ball into the goal.

Arsenal extended the lead to 2-0 five minutes later, as Bacary Sagna found Theo Walcott breaking with a through ball, putting he and Robin van Persie in alone on goal. Walcott's pass to RVP was perfect, but the shot hit Schwarzer in the leg and hit the crossbar. But, as there was no luck for Fulham on the day, the rebound careened straight back to the Dutchman, who fired the ball into the net, all the while having four Fulham defenders scrambling back into their positions.

The Gunners extended their lead to three at halftime thanks to a little more misfortune for Fulham. Walcott's cross into the box was this time met by Emmanuel Eboue. He attempted to back heel a pass to a marked van Persie behind him, but didn't get enough of a heavy touch on it to reach him. It did, instead, reach the defender marking van Persie, Chris Baird. The ball took a strange bounce off Baird and into the net for an own goal. 3-0 Arsenal at half time.

Fulham barely pressured all game and every Lukasz Fabianski touch brought sarcastic applause from both sets of fans at the Emirates. Arsenal closed out the game and the season with one more goal in the 84th minute. Samir Nasri's through ball came to Carlos Vela who calmly flicked a chip shot over the outstretched arms of Schwarzer. It was Vela's second goal of the year, with the other coming in the Carling Cup. 4-0 to the Arsenal.

Two other appearances to note, in the form of substitutions in this match: Johan Djourou, out all season with a knee injury suffered on international duty in August, came on at the hour mark, replacing Mikael Silvestre and Henri Lansbury, having just returned from a loan spell at Watford, made his Premier League debut for the match's final twenty minutes.