Supersub Harry Wilson scored twice in an astonishing spell of stoppage time as Fulham snatched victory from their shell-shocked west London rivals.
Fulham dominated virtually from start to finish, but were unable to penetrate Brentford until Wilson’s wondergoal levelled the scores in the 92nd minute.
The Welshman was only on the pitch 10 minutes before getting on the scoreboard. Adama Traore swung the ball in from the right and Wilson threw out a foot. And Craven Cottage seemed to come to a standstill as the ball looped over Mark Flekken’s head and dropped in the far corner.
Whether it was a fluke or mastery is unclear, but the Fulham fans could not care less. After 24 shots on target, the least likely had finally rung true.
Then, remarkably, Wilson struck again with a wonderful looping header to seal the three points. Pandemonium, as you would expect, ensued.
There will be many Arsenal fans who thought they might one day be treated to a show the likes of which Gunners exiles Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson put on in the first half.
Nelson was exuberant and effervescent, while Smith Rowe had the freedom of London with his intricate touches, elegant dribbling and pinpoint passing.
With one point from nine, you do wonder how different things might look back at the Emirates right now if Fulham’s No 32 was pulling the strings in Martin Odegaard’s absence.
It took just five minutes for Smith Rowe to work his magic, inviting Nelson to fly into the box and aim for the bottom corner, but he was twice denied by Flekken.
Seven minutes later, Nelson took on the entire Brentford back line in a driving, squirming run, but the only thing he could not outrun was himself, a clumsy touch denying him a chance at a goal of the season contender.
It was all Fulham early on. On 16 minutes Smith Rowe played a beautiful one-two with Antonee Robinson to ghost his way into the box, only for a goal-saving challenge from Nathan Collins to deny the hosts again. But for all their pressure, they could not make their chances count and in football we all know what often comes next.
On 24 minutes, a sloppy touch from Calvin Bassey was punished by Vitaly Janelt, who was fed by Christian Norgaard after Mikkel Damsgaard’s interception to fire the Bees into the lead with a brilliant effort from outside the box against the run of play.
That suckerpunch momentarily took the wind out of Fulham’s sails, but they ended the half on top once more, Smith Rowe coming close to the equaliser his performance merited with a header that was blocked en route to Flekken. Fulham continued to dominate after the break, but Brentford were much tighter, having seemingly learned their early lesson.
This time, it was Alex Iwobi seeing the lion’s share of the ball as the deep Brentford line forced the hosts to change tactic and send crosses into the box.
Brentford may not have been seeing much of the ball, but to their credit the Bees executed their own game plan well.
Smith Rowe and Nelson were unable to exploit space in behind the full backs as they had done in the first half and suddenly Fulham’s possession was blunted.
Potshots from Kenny Tete, Iwobi and Bassey were the only efforts to trouble Flekken, but even a particularly swerving effort from Fulham’s right back offered little to trouble the Bees keeper.
Fulham boss Marco Silva rang the changes, with the hulking Adam Traore injected into the attack, but even he could not bulldoze his way through the Bees resolute defence, which withstood cross after cross.
More changes came, with Smith Rowe and Nelson sacrificed as we headed into the final 10 minutes and still the pressure ratcheted up.
On 85 minutes the hosts thought they had finally got their equaliser when defender Joachim Andersen leapt highest from a corner, but his header flew straight into Flekken’s arms.
There was still time for the late drama though — and what drama it was too.