Despite some quite foul and disgusting weather - 'Arsenal weather' as my father used to describe it; although to be fair he called all weather 'Arsenal weather' - Arsenal closed the gap on Mancheater Cheaty down to goal difference by means of a comfortable 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday. Here's a link to my On The Whistle - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iVU4noDewn4
The crowd were in a good mood before the game kicked off. Mancheaty had lost at Aston Villa ( so Happy Invincibles Day, everyone), and Arsenal Ladies had won their NLD, so the day had started perfectly. And it didn't take long for Arsenal to take the lead in this game; thereby putting us at our ease. But I'm getting ahead of myself..
Everton are generally a tough and durable opponent and so, on the back of two tough away games on Sunday and Wednesday, this was a quick enough turnaround against a team that had had a full week off. But Mikel rotated his troops, and the home side still looked plenty strong enough for the challenge ahead. Despite a mounting injury list, there is plenty of depth to the squad these days.
We saw Ben White back in for Timber, MLS in for Calafiori (who Arteta knows shouldn't be playing three lots of 90 minutes in the space of a week), Merino replaced Bruno, Eze and Madueke on the flanks due to the midweek injury to Bukayo Saka, and Big Vik got his first start of the season in place of Kai. And, with so many games to play, this all seemed wise.
As for Everton... well thankfully they didn't come out to play with everybody behind the ball, which gave Arsenal the opportunity to play a bit of football, and the home side were soon dominating and winning a series of early corners. From which we saw the return of Set Piece FC, as Konsa scrambled in his first Arsenal goal following some pinball in the 6-yard box. At last - a first half goal; which relieved the pressure on all concerned.
And from then on, frankly, I personally felt completely relaxed about the result. I didn't feel that Everton had enough to hurt Arsenal, and despite the occasional foray into the Arsenal half, and even with Barry chucking his weight around - ably dealt with by Konsa and the utterly imperious Gabriel - David Raya had little or nothing to do.
Saying that, the weather did cause Raya some issues - a shot from Garner fizzed off the turf, causing him to have to plunge on the second ball after he understandably couldn't hold the initial effort; and then an understandable punching error from a corner caused a little consternation before Gabriel hammered the ball away. Compared to Chelsea's goalkeeper a little later in the he afternoon, Raya got off lightly there. Late in the half, a careless header from Ben White back in the keeper's direction was intercepted by Barry, but the Spaniard was alert enough to stamp out the danger.
Meanwhile at the other end Arsenal were looking controlled; and dangerous at times. With Rice and Odegaard taking it in turns to pull the strings, Madueke fashioned two decent chances for himself, and Merino headed over from an Odegaard free kick in the final act of the half. 1-0 at half-time was about right, and I guess there's always jeopardy in a single goal lead. But I was relaxed about things.
Second half, and more of the same. Arsenal dominating possession - as they usually do - but Everton causing the odd problem; they have some good young players, but lack squad depth and need more investment. Something that's tricky, as we're all aware, on the back of moving into a new stadium as they have done this season. Raya had a few bits and pieces to do, but Gabriel was generally dominating Barry. Nonetheless, a header from Dewsberry-Hall did cause some consternation at one point.
Calafiori, Bruno and Kai replaced MLS, Merino and Big Vik - and it's worth mentioning that whilst the latter failed to register a single shot in his 67 minutes on the field, he had put in an excellent shift and had done a very good job of working over Tarkowski and O'Brien. A perfectly decent first start for the Swede; and he got the assist for the first goal too.
At the other end, the decisive moment came on the back of yet another long sequence of passes, as White went on the overlap and was found by his captain. His cross, stood up to the far post, was headed in emphatically by Gabriel. A goal on his 200th PL appearance for the Gunners, but the more remarkable statistic was that this was his first goal since January! And at 2-0 that was that.
The game petered out towards the end - although we had a stoppage for what looked like a bad facial injury to Martin Zubimendi (on for Rice late on). The referee kindly awarded a free kick against the Spaniard for having the audacity to take an arm in the face from Barry! There did look to be a further injury concern, however - and this one potentially more serious. Calafiori was straight down the tunnel at the final whistle, looking quite unhappy. Let's hope it's nothing serious, with Hincapie still working his way back.
One thing I want to mention here is stadium maintenance. 10 yards in front of me and slightly to my right, water was pouring through a hole in the roof and onto the seats below. Dozens of supporters were obliged to move as a result. These things happen, of course, and such problems are often not apparent until we get weather like we had on Saturday. But this issue had been ongoing for at least 5 years now. Sort this out, please, Arsenal!
So that's another handy three points; Arsenal's seventh successive home PL win. And there were some interesting stories elsewhere in the league this weekend. Firstly, the 'shock' of Tottenham winning at Stamford Bridge - I'd prefer to see both teams lose every week, but as long as one of those sets of fans is unhappy that's good enough for me - with Cole Palmer, the modern-day Luke Chadwick (you'd have to be old enough...) sent off for good measure. Liverpool's win over Brighton opened up a 5 point gap to the latter in third (or should I say second) place. And - most amusingly - the once formidable Manchester United were hammered yet again; if their thrashing at Cesc Fabregas's Como in midweek wasn't funny enough, a 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth put their freefall into focus. It's clear that Michael Carrick isn't up to a job of that magnitude, but the problems at the club run far deeper than him. How the mighty have fallen!
Arsenal move on - weather permitting - to League Two Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup - expect to see loads of rotation. And then it's Liverpool away on Sunday. A big game, as usual - and it's about time we won there.
Before that, on Monday evening, the Ballon D'Or awards will be handed out. I am finishing this article as the ceremony gets under way, and I'm hoping that the Premier League Champions get the recognition they deserve.
COYG.
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