Arbeloa: We've made mistakes but Fulham on right path

Having gone winless in your first six games and conceded goals at a rate of almost two a game, there are worse ways to recover than a pair of gritty 1-0 victories.

It is still early days in the Alvaro Arbeloa project at Fulham but the optimism that a narrow but entertaining opening-weekend 3-2 defeat to Chelsea had brought from his debut in the dugout had waned with that run, which had left them stranded bottom of the Premier League.