Sunday, December 08, 2013

Arsenal 1 Everton 1

Arsenal missed out on the chance to move seven points clear of the field after being held to a 1-1 draw by Everton at the Emirates. After Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea either lost or drew on Saturday, the onus was on the Gunners to deliver. Yet after a slow start that saw them thoroughly dominant for the first 40 minutes of the game, the Gunners had a number of chances to take the lead and finally did with 10 minutes left, when Ozil netted a Walcott header across the crease. And then the unthinkable happened – Barcelona loanee Gerard Deulofeu found a slight opening and smashed the ball past Szczesny for a draw.

Everton played a high-tempo pressing game, with the impressive Ross Barkley and Kevin Mirallas swarming all over Arsenal. But for all the pressure and possession, Everton did not have a shot on goal in the first 45. It was in fact Arsenal who crafted the two best chances of the first half, in the last five minutes. First a clever pass from Jack Wilshere played in Olivier Giroud, though Tim Howard dashed off his line to make the save.
The Everton keeper then showed his class again in the final minute of the half after a combination of Cazorla, Giroud and Ramsey sliced open the Toffees. Once again, Howard was fast off his line and able to smother the ball at the feet of Ramsey, moments before he scored.

The second half started with Arsenal in the ascendancy, creating several half chances. Everton had chances of their own on the counter though and Szczesny was called into action for the first time on 54 minutes, as he had to push out a stinging drive from Steven Pienaar after a rapid Everton break. Minutes later, the alert Howard denied Ramsey a ninth Premier League goal, as the Everton keeper scrambled across his line to keep out the Welshman’s volley. Szczesny was in the thick of the action again in the 67th minute. He had to push out a fierce drive from Barkley after Wilshere had inexplicably allowed a loose ball to run across the edge of his own area.

Wenger then made a surprise triple substitution with a shade over 20 minutes remaining, and it almost provided an instant impact. A loose ball fell to Mathieu Flamini inside the box, and he flashed a shot a fraction wide of the target. Arsenal were well short of their best, but there is a steely determination about them, and they found a goal with 10 minutes remaining. Two of Wenger’s substitutes had a big say in the goal. Theo Walcott nodded a cross from Tomas Rosicky across goal, and Ozil was on hand to stroke the ball home after Giroud had missed his kick. The lead did not last long, courtesy of an on-loan Everton substitute—as Gerard Deulofeu picked up the ball inside the box and flashed a powerful, dipping shot that flew past Szczesny.

Arsenal and Everton then both pushed forward for the winner and Giroud came closest with a rasping drive that clattered against the woodwork as time elapsed. In the end, it was a fair result as Everton won the possession battle 56 to 44, had one more shot (12 to 11) and only one less shot on goal (4 to 5) and a higher pass completion rate (84 to 78%). Arsenal had more fouls (13 to 11), but that was partially down to Howard Webb being rather judicious with his calls as Everton played an extremely physical game that probably should have resulted in more yellows.

It was a disappointing loss of the opportunity to go a full seven points ahead, but still leaves us five points clear of City and Liverpool, with a game against the former coming up in a fortnight. Ramsey had an odd night off, with only a 77 percent completion rate, a couple of missed opportunities and giving the ball away far too often (particularly in the first half). Wilshere played some decent ball, but again gave it up on several occasions that led to Everton counters. And Giroud failed to connect with two clear cut chances, though Howard had a lot to do with both. The defense held strong for much of the game, with Kos and Mertesacker both putting in strong games that kept Lukaku at bay, Arteta breaking up play on several occasions and Gibbs and Jenkinson marshalling well down the wings. However, it was Gibbs who failed to close of the leveler – and this was not the first time this season. It is the one aspect of his game he needs to work on, closing out the spaces in front of goal and timing his headers better.


When Flamini, Rosicky and Walcott came on in the 70th minute, the tide of the game changed completely and there are serious questions about why the Czech doesn’t play in front of Wilshere at the moment, as his play is far superior – pushing the ball forward, completing more passes and providing a greater threat without really giving up anything on the defensive end. There have been concerns that Arsenal’s inability to put teams away would hurt them in the end, and one could argue converting their chances would have made the equalizer moot, but the reality is that Everton was impressive throughout and that Martinez appears to have improved the team since taking over for Moyes, while the latter is mired in a veritable crisis at United, after losing to Everton and Newcastle within a week. Arsenal now has three imperative games starting with the final group match against Napoli on Wednesday – where they simply have to not lose 3-0 to advance (though a victory could see them top of the group of death). Then it is a trip to City where a point would be a success before hosting Chelsea. COYG!

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