Early failure: Arbeloa's struggles mount in the Premier League

Alvaro Arbeloa's troubles at Fulham are deepening. The Spanish coach has now watched his new side lose back-to-back Premier League matches.

Fulham opened their campaign with a 3-2 defeat to Chelsea. Then came Saturday's 1-0 loss at Sunderland in the second round.

According to the AS newspaper, Arbeloa will have to wait even longer to taste victory in the Premier League with Fulham.

Chances were scarce in a tight, evenly matched contest against Sunderland.

Isidor broke the deadlock with the game's only goal a quarter of an hour from time, leaving Fulham with too little time to respond.

Sunderland looked the more comfortable side in the first half, dominating possession without ever really testing Fulham.

The best chance actually fell to the visitors before the half-hour mark. Iwobi slipped the ball through to King behind the Sunderland defence, and the forward tried to lift it over Roefs as the goalkeeper rushed out, only to see his effort clear the crossbar.

Nothing much changed after the break, though Sunderland raised the tempo compared to the first half.

Arbeloa turned to his bench for several changes, yet Fulham never found a way through across the 90 minutes.