The Gunners suffered a lot but won against the course of the game against Everton (2-0).
Everton, who hasn’t won in 3 games, moves to the Arsenal field, which remains on 3 wins. The Toffees were able to count on their most fervent supporters in the Emirates.
First half
The game started at a high pace. Both teams put a lot of intensity into the duels and impose from the start a big pressing on the ball carrier.
The Toffees had a golden opportunity to score in the first moments of the game : Calvert-Lewin, who was on the edge of offside, found himself alone against Cech in the area. While he had to slide the ball back to Richarlison, Everton’s forward tried to dribble Arsenal’s goalkeeper, who defeated him with his left foot. Wrong choice.
Everton’s players embarrass the Gunners with their top dry cleaning at the start of the game and have a new opportunity after a ball loss from Xhaka in front of its surface. Sigurdsson, well served by Richarlison, had offered a caviar to Calvert-Lewin, but he was in the offside position. No regrets, it was anyway the second huge failure of the English striker at the start of the game.
The Gunners are suffering from the physical impact of Everton’s players. The first attempt of the Londoners is to the credit of Monreal, whose strike is blocked. Arsenal players show too much imprecision in the development of their actions to be truly dangerous.
Across the street, Everton is in place. Following a good cross section from Walcott, Richarlison took the best on Bellerin in the aerial duel. The Brazilian winger controls, takes a bullet in the foot and sets off a good shot from the law that forces Cech to concede the corner. Arsenal players manage to free themselves on the two consecutive corner kicks.
Everton keeps the Emery team under pressure and gets the best chances. First on a solo action by Richarlison, whose hit is close to the amount of Cech, then on a set kick, when the doorman of the Gunners must concede the corner on the free-kick well coiled of Digne. Cech once again saved his family by winning his duel against Walcott (38′).
Arsenal finally manages to worry Pickford as we approach halftime, but Lacazette takes too long to keep up Ramsey’s service in the area, before Pickford is close to conceding a gag goal, misjudging the trajectory of Aubameyang’s failed Center, which ends up on his bar.
Everton dominated this first period and the Toffees should lead at halftime. Due to the lack of effectiveness of the opposing attackers and thanks to several good parades from Cech, Arsenal did well, but delivered an extremely disappointing first period. Emery’s men are uninspiring collectively.
Second half
The match was based on the same principles : Arsenal struggled to build in order to make progress on the ground. The Gunners get a corner on a center against Özil who takes charge of pulling it himself. He alerted Ramsey near the surface, but the Welsh’s shot lacked the power to worry the Three Lions goaltender.
Everton is punished for his ineffectiveness. While the Gunners are a little better in the last few minutes, Arsenal takes the lead on a personal feat by Lacazette. The French forward was found by Ramsey in the area and rolled up a splendid right shot that hit the post before finishing at the bottom of the Nets.
It’s hard for Toffees to crack in under five minutes. Following a Lacazette service, Özil leaves on the right wing, enters the surface and passes to Ramsey, which extends to Aubameyang. The attacker easily concluded at point-blank range, but the goal of the break should not have been validated because the former Dortmund player was in the offside position.
Ten minutes later, we need another decisive Cech stop to stop Everton from cutting the score. Keane won in his duel with Xhaka and took over a free-kick from Sigurdsson from the left, forcing the Czech goalkeeper to stretch all the way out in a corner.
As we approach the last quarter of an hour of the game, the two teams have identical statistics ( 7 shots including 5 on target). Taking advantage of the feverishness of the opposition, the Toffees throw their last forces in the battle but show imprecision or stumble on an intransigent Petr Cech.
The Gunners won without a hue and went on with a fourth consecutive Premier League win. The Toffees can feed regrets, they have harvested too much in the first period on their high time.