Following last weekend's shabby performance in victory at home to already doomed Wolves, Arsenal looked to start to get back into form in what looked like a tricky fixture at the new home of Everton on Saturday evening. In truth, the away side's recent record at The Toffees' former home, the atmospheric Goodison Park, left a lot to be desired. So we hoped that a change of venue might be the inspiration for three much-needed points.
The players had enjoyed a rare and much-needed full week off prior to this fixture. They needed a reset, frankly, following a difficult recent set of both performances and results, during which they had fallen off the extremely high standards they had set earlier in the season. All of which is a bit of a vicious circle; they needed a decent performance - allied to a result - in order to rebuild confidence. The lead they had established at the top of the table only a few weeks ago had, in fact, completely dissipated prior to this fixture, with Manchester City a point ahead by the time kick-off rolled around following the formality of a home win against West Ham.
There were no real shocks for me in the starting line-up. It's the eleven that I'd have selected; although, and I state this guardedly, there is something of of a 'horses for courses' narrative starting up regarding quite who should be selected up front - and that will probably continue until Gyokeres starts to properly make his mark. In this one, would Big Vik be the correct choice when coming up against the hulking Everton centre-backs? Or would it perhaps be more interesting tactically to select Merino, who drops off and allows others to run past him; or even Jesus, who can pop up anywhere. Those latter two would perhaps confuse the centre-backs, who I could envisage not knowing whether to stick or twist.
It was no surprise, however, to see the Swede preferred up top. Although time may be running out for him to nail the spot down with Kai Havertz due back in the next 3-4 weeks.
The key to this game, however, was the midfield battle. Everton had lost two key creative players in Ndiaye (at AFCON) and Dewsbury-Hall, and Moyes replaced them with more rugged citizens. So Grealish was really the only creative hub, and the main tactic seemed to be to get the centre-forward to run beyond Saliba and Hincapie. In truth, both Barry and Beto did a better job of that than Gyokeres did at the other end.
As the game kicked off, I had a sense of trepidation. No, Everton aren't a particularly good side; but they are tricky, and we've seen over the past few weeks how a rugged, 'in your face' style of football doesn't necessarily suit Arsenal. That feeling failed to disappear early on as Everton made much of the running - whilst creating absolutely nothing - and Arsenal failed to gain any sort of foothold possession-wise for the first 15 minutes. Slowly but surely, Arsenal felt their way into the game. As usual, it was Bukayo Saka who lit the touch paper - and he remained a constant threat all evening. Man of the Match once more.
The breakthrough came half way through the half. I thought that O'Brien pushed Gyokeres as he looked to head home from close range, but no penalty given. From the resulting corner - a delivery of massively high quality from Declan Rice - pantomime villain O'Brien went up for the ball with both hands upraised; almost as if he thought it was a rugby line-out. He got both hands to the ball, and whilst the referee failed to give a spot kick it didn't take long for the VAR to get involved; the award of a penalty an inevitability. Watching referee Barrott reviewing the incident on the screen, I was amazed that it took as many looks as it did to the penalty to be awarded; so blatant was it. Frankly, whichever angle you look at it from, it's handball.
The kick itself had shades of Havertz at Bournemouth a couple of years ago. The German had been struggling to make a mark since his arrival, so Odegaard chose to hand him the ball from the spot to help him properly kick start his Arsenal career. Odegaard handed the ball to Gyokeres; making this the first time since that day that a penalty was taken by neither the skipper nor Saka when both were on the field.
Gyokeres was Sporting's penalty taker last season, so there was very little jeopardy in the decision for me - outside of possible lost FPL points with Starboy not chosen to take it. And it was no surprise to me to see the Swede hammer the ball past Pickford and into the net. So hard did he hit it, that I envisioned one of those cartoons when you see a perfectly round hole left in someone's body by a cannonball or suchlike. Such would likely have been Pickford's fate had he got in the way of the shot, which actually made the frame of the goal shudder as it made contact with the net.
Cue the Bain celebration; and Arsenal had something to cling to. Something they did with relative ease as the half drew to an end. The goal had taken the wind completely out of Everton's sails - not that they had forced Raya into much effort when they had been on top earlier on, to be honest; no shots, no successful crosses, and just two touches in the Arsenal box, leading to 0.00xG for the home side in the first half. I couldn't, in all honesty, come to terms with my own nervousness.
Things felt fairly comfortable at half time, but 1-0 is a slender lead - especially to a side slightly lacking in confidence - and so a can of Guinness was opened, and a 'lucky second half lollipop' (a Swizzels Mega Double, if you're interested) was unwrapped in preparation for a possibly awkward 50 minutes.
And Everton were better in the second half. Although I was more nervous watching Arsenal playing out from the back than when watching the home side trying to create anything. The ball was given away far too often inside their own half by the Arsenal defenders, and this led to unnecessary pressure being exerted. There's really no issue with hitting it long occasionally, lads - if only to mix it up a bit.
And Arsenal had comfortably the better of the chances created in the second period. First Saka, and then Trossard (unfortunate to hit the post at the end of a superb attacking phase) could have put the game to bed. And Zubimendi soon after; hitting the foot of the same post from a Saka cut back. But it remained 1-0; and I remained twitchy.
The only moment of real concern throughout the half - although, as I say, 1-0 is never comfortable - was seeing Saliba's attempt at clearing the ball inside the penalty area catch Barry's ankle - the forward had got there a split second earlier. I am sure that you - like me - would have had immediate flashbacks to the same player being penalised for a clash of heads with Joao Pedro last season that led to the award of a penalty. I didn't think that last season's clash deserved a spot kick, and felt the same about this one. But you've certainly seen them given. And not given... Thankfully, both referee and VAR deemed this 'insufficient contact' - much to the ire of David Moyes.
With time ticking on, a graphic that Sky put up on the screen did little to relax me. It announced that Arsenal have conceded more goals than any other side in the division from the 81st minute onward. 4; and three of them very recently indeed - at Sunderland and Villa, and home to Wolves. Yet Arsenal did remain in control, with the only dangers frankly self-inflicted ones. The pattern of the game stayed the same, with Arsenal now having much more of the ball. And the game finished with Everton having reached the heady heights of 0.20xG.
So why had I been so nervous? The truth is that despite this ending up being fairly comfortable, the fact that on the back of some below par performances the margin was a single goal did make for fairly uncomfortable viewing. The truth is that Arsenal need to start scoring more goals; setting up margins that leave results in little doubt. They aren't putting the ball in the net with more frequency and, if this continues, it's going to be a long and nervy 2026.
Still, that result does leave Arsenal two points clear of Manchester City and three of Aston Villa, with the rest nowhere. Not to be sneezed at as we head into Christmas; yet only around half of the Christmas leaders actually go on to win the trophy. Long way to go.
Home to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday. And then Brighton at home at the weekend. As far as the first of those games is concerned, the wheels do appear to be falling off of our opponents and their very small squad. Arteta will certainly have a much easier job in rotating his squad than Glasner - for all that a two-legged semi-final against Chelsea awaiting the winners in January does create a fixture headache. Do you want to be in it - or don't you? I've heard all the arguments, and I'm on the side of the squad being big enough to cope.
Anyway, I won't be posting after the midweek game. So I'll be back next Sunday or Monday. It merely remains for me to wish you the Compliments of the Season. COYG!
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