They made hard work of it, but in the end, Arsenal got the job done and returned to the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win, on their first visit to Everton’s Hill Dickinson stadium. Before the game I was really wanting a strong performance from the team, as well as the result ,and we sort of got that, in a way, just without the comfortable scoreline. Don’t get me wrong, at the end that was absolutely torture as I was seeing flashbacks of all of the late goals we’ve let in this year and Skysports were helpfully reminding us of them at every possible interval, with all sorts of graphics and stats. However, if you look back on the game objectively, Everton never laid a glove on us for pretty much the whole game. The only thing that stopped this from being a fairly comfortable Premier League win, away against a difficult opponent, was poor finishing.
Arsenal started slowly, it has to be said and didn’t really get a grip of the game until about the 20 minute mark, when they started stringing some passes together. Not long after, we were gifted a goal by a ridiculous handball by Everton defender Jake O’Brien who decided to just parry the ball away with both hands, under pressure from Riccardo Calafiori. The referee missed it and VAR actually did something useful for a change and got involved to correct what was a clear error by the referee. Despite the obvious handball, it still took far too long to get to the decision, as the referee watched it for far too long, based on what was an open and shut case.
The next decision was who was going to take it. Martin Odegaard played his usual role in pretending to be the kicker and taking all of the slating and mind games before handing the ball to Viktor Gyokeres – not Bukayo Saka. I was hoping for a Viktor Gyokeres goal today and the big Swede made no mistake from 12 yards, blasting the ball powerfully over a helpless Jordan Pickford.
Arsenal continued to dominate the rest of the first half without really threatening Everton’s goal with any regularity and this continued into the second half however, the attack definitely started to carry a bit more threat after the interval. A nice move down the right hand side between Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard and Saka lead to a really presentable opportunity for the winger. He took the shot first time, just inside the box on, to the right of the goal with a right footed shot that James Tarkowski cleared off the line with relative ease. It wasn’t a bad effort, but the frustration was how much time Saka had. He had more than enough time to take a touch (or maybe even two) and blast the ball past everyone on the line, but opted for the first time shot which was tame in the end.
Soon after, another really good move led to Leandro Trossard being played in on the left-hand side by Declan Rice. Think Newcastle away chance where Trossard struck the near post. Same result this time, except he hit the far post on this occasion! Martin Zubimendi also struck the post from a much more difficult chance later in the half however, for me, this Trossard miss was completely unacceptable. Again he had so much time, so much of the goal to aim at and he inexplicably managed to strike the outside of the right post with over half of the goal gaping. Those sort of misses can come back to haunt you and despite a nervy finish, this one did not, as we managed to see out the game in quite a professional manner with the majority of stoppage time being played out in Everton’s far corner.
So all in all, a strong performance, without the goals, but crucially, with the three points as Arsenal proved they can win away again and pushed Manchester City back into second place and stay top of the pile at Christmas. Now let’s stay there!
David Raya – 7
Probably deserves a high rating than a 7 to be fair, as everything he did was perfect. Claimed crosses superbly, alleviating pressure on the defence on multiple occasions. Passes was also superb and started a few really dangerous attacks with quick, but accurate, long balls. The only problem is, I don’t think you can mark a goalkeeper any higher than a 7 when he didn’t face a single shot on target!
Jurrien Timber – 7
Strong performance. I much prefer him at right back to centre back, despite the Dutchman performing admirably in the centre in the past few games. Grealish got nothing out of him and although he did lose the ball on the odd occasion, he was generally very safe going forward and linked up well with Saka and Odegaard multiple times to good effect in the second half.
William Saliba – 8
Not a perfect performance, as he allowed Beto to nick the ball a couple of times late in the game, but overall this was more like the Saliba of earlier in the season. Never harried or rushed, so calm in everything he did. Dominant in his duels, for the most part, built up well from the back and aside from one careless pass which nearly led to an Everton chance, this was nearly vintage Saliba. Maybe a bit lucky to get away with the penalty/VAR call? I really don’t know anymore! I’ve seen them given, that’s all I’ll say. Loved his one on one with, I think it was Alcaraz, where he just waited for the attacker to get close and them just swatted him aside like he was an Under 10s player!!
Piero Hincapie – 7
Looks so much better alongside Saliba. Hasn’t looked bad by any means, but this was a really strong showing, both on the ball and from a defensive standpoint. Although I don’t think Gabriel will be too worried about getting his place back in the team, Hincapie’s a really solid deputy and he battled all game and passed it well for the majority of the game, aside from the odd aimless long pass.
Riccardo Calafiori – 6
Strong defensively throughout as nothing got in down his side. Didn’t quite work out for him going the other way as a lot of the attacking play when down the right and then when it came down the left hand side, Trossard often looked to come infield rather than using the Italian’s overlapping runs.
Martin Zubimendi – 7
A few surprising careless passes from the midfield maestro as he put the ball straight out of play at least twice. That said, I still think he was more than decent. Took the ball under pressure countless times as he helped Arsenal play through the Everton press and keep the ball. Struck the post with a nice first time effort that nearly sneaked in late on and blazed a similar chance, albeit on his left side, way over the bar when well placed, as he managed to get forward to good effect as well.
Declan Rice – 8 PLAYER OF THE MATCH
I wrote in my preview blog post that we needed to match Everton’s running in midfield to get something out of the game and that is something that you can always rely on Declan Rice to do, and he didn’t let us down tonight. Closed down space and nicked lose balls like an absolute mad man and drove forward with the ball well at times as well. Was strong in the air throughout as well, with that being in midfield or from long throw-ins or set pieces. A really all round midfield performance from the man for the big occasion and did brilliantly in the build up to the Trossard chance that should have yielded an assist. Top class performance.
Martin Odegaard – 8
More like it from the Captain. Pressed well as always and kept the ball under pressure throughout as he buzzed around midfield trying to move Everton about. Actually looked more dangerous in the attacking positions though as he threaded a few lovely balls in for Saka and Timber down the right and nearly grabbed an assist for the Saka chance that was cleared. Could and maybe should have pulled the trigger on a couple of occasions and I think this is something that he needs to bring back into his game, if he wants to keep Eberechi Eze on the bench.
Bukayo Saka – 8
In stages he was unplayable and then at other times he was really quiet. His link-up play with Timber and Odegaard was really on point as they managed to find each other in dangerous positions time after time after time and the only real criticism is that Saka (or Timber/Odegaard) didn’t make more of these opportunities. Should have scored to give Arsenal a two-nil lead, but his side footed effort was easily cleared. Corners were class as always.
Viktor Gyokeres – 7
Dispatched the penalty with aplomb to ultimately win the game for Arsenal, which is always nice thing to get from your striker. Had one other chance where he seemed to get in down the right hand channel with the Everton defender doing quite well to get back at him and put him off however, I think there the sort of chances that Gyokeres needs to at least be working the keeper on. The commentary on Skysports were coming after him a bit regarding his inability to hold up the ball, but I didn’t think his hold up play was that bad and to be honest, I don’t think that’s really his game and something that he’s never going to thrive at. Looked good when the ball went into the channels and I thought this was actually one of his better games for Arsenal. Withdrawn for Jesus after about 65 minutes.
Leandro Trossard – 6
Has to score that opportunity in the second half where he struck the post. That just has to be a goal when we are dealing with such fine margins in this league. Trossard has been the man Arsenal have turned to in the past few weeks, and probably for most of the season to be fair, but he came up short tonight as he had little impact on the game as a whole. Tidy enough in possession and worked hard defensively though.
Subs:
Gabriel Jesus – 6 – In for Gyokeres with about 25 minutes to play as the Brazilian was tasked with holding up the ball, which I honestly don’t think he did any better than the Swede. Jesus didn’t do anything wrong as such, I just don’t think he was ever likely to fair any better against the likes of Michael Keane and Tarkowski, than Gyokeres did. Some nice play down the corner flag which ran the clock down well in the final stages of the game and had a few nice touches and passes which linked the play nicely.
Gabriel Martinelli – 5 – I wanted him to run at the tired Everton defence more than he did as he seemed to play it safe a bit too much. Probably should have come on for Trossard a bit earlier as well, as when the game opened up a bit it seemed like the perfect opportunity for him. Didn’t deliver any fireworks, but I think he played his part in closing out the game and chasing Pickford and the Everton defenders down in the latter stages.
Mikel Merino – 5 – Barely touched the ball. The few touches I remember were pretty decent though.