Arsenal and Everton played out a 2-2 draw on Saturday afternoon, with the Gunners digging deep to overturn the Evertonians 2 goal lead at half-time.
It took a mere 19 minutes for Everton to break the deadlock when Leighton Baines cut the ball back from wide into a central area, finding Gareth Barry who chipped the ball to the back post, fortunately meeting Seamus Coleman who raced in to head past Wojciech Szczesny.
Everton went into half-time with a deserved 2-0 lead having carved open the Arsenal defence again.
The Toffees countered down the right through Lukaku, who then played a through ball for Steven Naismith to latch on to which he then poked through the legs of Szczesny. However - the forward looked half-a-yard offside, something picked up on to major dismay from Arsenal fans.
Giroud came off the bench at half- time in an attempt to overturn the 2 goal lead Everton had gained in the first half. And he did just that. As soon as he was introduced Arsenal’s attack looked more lively. He gave the team a focal point and physical presence in attack that they had missed.
Had his finishing been sharper, he might have clawed Arsenal back into the game immediately. The Frenchman volleyed over from close range after a superb cross from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. No matter: his time would come at the closing minutes of the game, earning Arsenal a point to walk away with.
Arsene Wenger had this to say on the French International after the game:
"I have more strikers than before so sometimes I can give them a little rest. Giroud has just played one game since the World Cup so I gave him a little breather today but I knew we were dominating the game in the second half and we needed some physical presence up front and he did that very well in the second half."
On looking more threatening with Giroud: "We looked much more dangerous because we were not in a counter-attacking situation. We were in a dominating situation where of course you play 10 against 10 in one half and his presence is very important."
Heres what Roberto Martinez had to say on his teams performance in the first half, and also their frustrating late goal to Giroud:
"The performance was exactly as we wanted," he said. "The first-half performance is what we want to be doing.
"But we ran out of legs a little bit and Arsenal, as you would expect, threw everything forward and you get into a position where the third goal is going to be vital.
"At 2-0 up we were so comfortable in the first half. Tim Howard never had to make a save and we were always a real threat.
"The performance in the first half was exactly what we wanted. The result at this stage of the season we'll take it.
"Obviously it's a disappointment to drop points but we were really happy with the performance and the way that we played Arsenal in the first half."
Arsenal now have their champions League qualifying Play-off against Besiktas at the Emirates to look foward to on the 27th, desperate to prove themselves from their below-par performance against the turkish outfit in the previous leg. Their draw against Everton today wasn't the best of performances, but the point they've gained will boost morale, possibly enough to spur the team to win.
