Leandro Trossard produces hat-trick of assists as Arsenal cruise past Fulham

Leandro Trossard registered a first-half hat-trick of assists as Arsenal maintained their five-point Premier League lead over Manchester City by sweeping Fulham aside 3-0 at Craven Cottage.

Lining up at centre-forward once again, Trossard – a January arrival from Brighton – doubled his assists tally for the season.

The Belgian first teed up Gabriel's header from a corner midway through the opening 45 minutes, before crossing for Gabriel Martinelli to nod in five minutes later; he then delivered another fine cross for Martin Odegaard to strike the Gunners' third goal in stoppage time.

Fulham improved after the break, but the damage had already long been done by Mikel Arteta's ruthless visitors – who made it five league wins on the bounce since last month's loss to City.

With his man-of-the-match performance, Trossard became the first Arsenal player in five years to set up three goals in a single Premier League game – since Henrikh Mkhitaryan did so in a 5-1 rout of Everton in February 2018.

Sunday's victory also saw the Gunners surpass their 2021/22 league goals tally of 61, reaching 62 for the current campaign with 11 games still to play.

Arsenal now head into a home triple-header: they face Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their Europa League last 16 tie on Thursday, before taking on Crystal Palace and Leeds in the Premier League either side of the international break.

Fulham, meanwhile, slip to eighth in the league after their second successive defeat; they travel to Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup next Sunday.