Arsenal go into this one knowing that a win on their first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium will see them top of the table at Christmas, so the prize of a win in this one is pretty huge. Arsenal’s away form in the past few games (domestically at least) has been patchy to say the best with 2 points from the last 9, so Arsenal’s title charge needs a bit of an adrenaline shot tonight to prove to the rest of the league that they can go to these difficult grounds and not only win, but win with relative ease. On the flip side, Everton’s home form this season has been very good, despite the unnatural situation of moving to a new stadium so Arsenal will need to be at their very best to win this one.
Areas of encouragement
I’ll start by saying that whatever team Everton will put out will be a real challenge, that is an absolute given. That said, I really think Everton will miss Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, who is ruled out through injury. I’d go as far as to say that he’s been their best player this season, so his absence is a big boost for Arsenal.
Looking closer to home, the return of William Saliba and Jurrien Timber against Wolves last time out, and the return of Riccardo Calaifiori for this one, should hopefully give this slightly wobbly looking defence a much more solid look. Going forward, Bukayo Saka seems to be hitting a bit of form and Viktor Gyokeres showed signs of improvement in the second half of the Wolves game, so hopefully this will start to bear fruit against the Toffees.
Arsenal have also had a much needed week off and should be as fresh as their opponents for the first time in a long time!
Areas of concern
Going away to Everton is always a concern. They’re in good form, especially at home and have given us real trouble down the years. Despite that worrying thought, my main concern is whether or not the few poor results we’ve had at Villa/Chelsea/Sunderland are part of a bigger problem, as we’ve lacked control in the last few games, especially in comparison to earlier in the year when we went through a run of not just clean sheets, but teams were failing to register a single shot on target! We’ve gone from that, to potentially one of the worst teams in Premier League history scoring at our place. This game at Everton is an opportunity to show that we’ve return to our previous imperious selves.
What I’d love to see
It’s the performance. Don’t get me wrong, the result is obviously the main thing but this is a game where Arsenal need to show their best self. We’ve gone from being Champions elect to a few people asking questions about our title credentials and nothing quietens those questions like a really strong performance. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in attendance at Goodison Park when we’ve just outplayed Everton (opening day of the season in 2004/05 if anyone is interested!) and it laid down a real marker for the season ahead, as everyone knows how tough a game this is. This is the sort of performance that we need tonight. I’d also love to see Viktor Gyokeres announce himself in this team and silence a few doubters of his own.
What I’d hate to see
As I mentioned above, we’ve had some really tough games away at Everton down the years, including some where we lost the battle and were basically bullied off the park or outrun by their midfield. That absolutely cannot happen tonight. If we don’t match Everton’s fight and running, we’re going to be in real trouble.
Key Battle
I’d like to think we’ll see a lot of the ball and therefore the key will be hope we create chances. Viktor Gyokeres is going to be tasked with stretching the Everton defence so I think how he does against James Tarkowski and the likes will go a long way in dictating whether or not we can break them down. Gyokeres was a bully in the Portuguese league but we’ve not seen much of that from the big striker since his move to the Premier League, with many of the league’s defenders being the same size or bigger than the Swede. Tarkowski falls into the latter of the two categories so Gyokeres is going to have to start finding away of getting past them in another way and there is no time like the present.
Lineup and Team News
There was some surprisingly positive injury news from Mikel Artea during his pre-game press conference as the injury to Ben White does not sound as serious as first thought and Gabriel and Kai Havertz are both edging closer to a return. Unfortunately none of them will be back in time for this one however, Arsenal can count on Calafiori once more, following his suspension, so the Italian should straight back into the starting eleven at left back. I know Piero Hincapie started at left back against Wolves, but I expect him to return to the centre of defence for this one, with Saliba and Timber taking their usual places to his right.
Into midfield, Arteta seems very reluctant to rest Martin Zubimendi and with the League Cup game coming up on Tuesday, it seems like that game, rather than this one, will be the game where the Spaniard takes a breather. In this sort of game, Declan Rice is an absolute must, so he should take his place on the left of the midfield trio, leaving the number 10 position the only midfield slot where this is genuine debate as to who will start. Martin Odegaard seems more likely to given the nod over Eberechi Eze, especially as this is a game where running power will be key and the skipper’s engine will be vital to Arsenal dominating the midfield.
Up front, Bukayo Saka will be one of the first names on the team sheet, which leads onto the other two positions where competition really is rife. Up front we have the choice of Mikel Merino, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus, with the left hand side boasting another three excellent options in Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke. I suppose you could consider Eze as another option there as well, but I don’t think we’ll see that for a while given the indifferent performances we’ve seen from the former Palace man out there.
It’s really difficult to work out what Mikel Arteta will do. There will be all sorts of analysis on both our players and Everton’s to take into account, along with fitness, running power etc.
That said, I think dropping Viktor Gyokeres will create a narrative that Arteta really doesn’t want to create so he should at least be given the first half to prove his worth. On the left, if Leandro Trossard is back to full fitness, he starts this one, with the other two playing the roll of impact subs, from what should be a very strong looking bench.
Predicted lineup:
Raya
Timber
Saliba
Hincapie
Calafiori
Zubimendi
Rice
Odegaard
Saka
Gyokeres
Trossard
Substitutes:
Arrizabalaga
Lewis-Skelly
Norgaard
Nwaneri
Merino
Eze
Martinelli
Jesus
Madueke
PREDICTION
It’s going to be a real battle. However, if Arsenal put in the sort of performance that we all know that they are capable up and that we’re all desperate to see, they should have enough to win this one. I’m going 2-0 to The Arsenal.