Everton paid back with interest as Arsenal score four

Arsenal 4 Everton 0   
Premier League   
Wednesday 1st March 2023 7.45pm   

For 40 minutes at a chilly Emirates last night, there was an element of déjà vu from the trip to Goodison Park less than four weeks ago. Sean Dyche’s team did an excellent job of frustrating their hosts and for most of the opening 45 minutes, Arsenal’s attempts on goal were few and far between. One lapse in concentration though, with Saka being allowed space to receive the ball on the edge of the area, and the dam burst. Perhaps the most significant stat to reflect a key difference in the two games was the number of Everton corners. These, buoyed on by the Toffees’ fans, were a huge source of danger in the reverse fixture, and from one of their seven corners, they scored the decisive goal in the first match under Dyche. Last night they only had one corner. 

 

More critically, once Arsenal went ahead, their opponents had to do something that there was never any call for when the sides last met, which was come out and play. They can do this – although up front the technique and control of Neil Maupay and his colleagues was not all it might be. They had chances to score in this game, but lacked the quality to exploit them. A more open game led to a goalfest for the Gunners and a healthy contribution to goal difference. The victory has given them a five point lead in the table with a third of the campaign remaining. It’s more than anyone could have hoped for last summer and a testament to the good work that has been done at the club since the awful conclusion to the previous season. 

 

Mikel Arteta stuck with the same eleven that achieved the win at Leicester last weekend, which meant Nketiah and Partey entered the fray as substitutes, Partey at half-time for Jorginho with his side two goals up. One suspects that change might have been made at 0-0 anyway, given the more attacking contribution of Partey. The opening goal game after 40 minutes, a clinical strike from Saka, who was wide of the goal, after he had been picked out by Zinchenko. The Ukrainian had an excellent game, mainly playing in midfield, given Arsenal’s greater possession (73%), and featured in the build-up to three of the goals. The one he had no part in was the rather strange second, just as the first half entered injury time. 

Odegaard fell over taking the ball forward, and no-one was sure whether it was a foul, including Idrissa Gueye, who kind of half-heartedly looked to play a pass back to Pickford in the Everton goal. Before he made clean contact with the ball, Saka poked it away from him and Martinelli collected it to score. An offside flag initially quelled any questions about Gueye’s focus, but VAR over-ruled that decision (even if on the TV it did look offside given the hairline nature of these calls now). The goal stood, and you really felt it was game over. It certainly was for Gueye, hooked at half-time by a doubtless furious manager. If there is one thing that Dyche demands of his players it is commitment. He got that in his first game at the club, but there felt less intensity about them last night. If they are to stay in the top flight, it will surely be done with results in front of their own crowd, and the run-in does not look too kind to them. After Arsenal the club has the record for remaining in the top division for longest (since 1959 I believe) without being relegated. They have flirted with it in recent seasons, and Dyche has been recruited to make sure it doesn’t happen. They were beaten at home by Villa last weekend, so the new manager bounce didn’t last too long. 

 

As for Arsenal, two nice goals in the second half, from Odegaard and another for Martinelli, were fair return for the quality of their performance. At times, Everton struggled to get near the ball, although at 2-0, McNeil did have a very decent chance to pull one back, which Ramsdale saved. It was particularly sweet that Odegaard’s goal was deflected off James Tarkowski, given he had scored the winner at Goodison. Trossard did well – switching from central to left wing, where at times Arsenal had overloads and both of the second half goals came from that flank. Eddie Nketiah did well for the fourth to set up Martinelli for a toe poke over the line. 

 

Near the death, the home side’s clean sheet was nearly scuppered as sub Davies looked more likely to score than not, but somehow Ramsdale got something on it. By this time, most of the traveling support had made their way out of the ground for the long trip north. 

 

It was an excellent display from Mikel Arteta’s side. Yes, it took a while to get going, but they kept plugging away, did the job defensively and controlled the match, limiting Everton’s threat. Once the first goal arrived, everything turned in their favour. This was one of a series of matches Arsenal really need to take maximum points from if they are to hold off Manchester City – and with Europa League involvement returning, rotation will surely be necessary, although how much Arteta can do this in the Premier League remains to be seen. Once Jesus is fit again, it will be easier to rotate his forwards without losing threat, and the Partey or Jorginho option means the team will always have a holding player that can play a big part in retaining control of matches as the team did last night, aided of course by the excellent Zinchenko. 

 

So things are looking up again after the early February mini-collapse. Jorginho and Trossard have settled in well and the team have chalked up three wins out of three. All they can do for now is take it a game at a time and forget about the bigger picture, because it is the details they need to focus on to continue racking up the necessary points. It’s still early days for me. 13 matches… well as lot can happen, especially if you throw in progress in Europe. But there is hope, confidence, and belief. Arsenal are actually favourites with the bookies to land the title now, despite a visit to the Etihad being one of their remaining fixtures. Whatever happens, at least, into March, the team are playing in the matches with the kind of thing at stake that we have seen all too rarely since the move from Highbury. More of this please.

 

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