Arsenal will be looking to bounce back from their demoralising 3-1 UEFA Champions League last 16 first leg defeat to Monaco when they host Everton at The Emirates on Sunday. The Gunners went into Wednesday’s clash in bullish mood; having won eight of their last nine games, but a combination of insipid attacking, poor finishing and shambolic defending has given them a major task to overturn the deficit in France in three weeks. The French outfit are notorious for being defensively organised and dangerous on the counter-attack, but the Gunners were arrogant and irresponsible in attitude.

The defending for the second and third Monaco goals was frankly unforgivable. Putting it into context, in the 53rd minute of the first leg, Arsenal had just one defender in their own half. Full-backs Bellerin and Gibbs had bombed forward, whilst Per Mertesacker was inexplicably in a central-midfield position. The worst thing was his feeble attempt to dispossess the Monaco midfielder. This is a World-Cup winning central defender, with over 100 international appearances! His positioning was dreadful, but he failed to rectify the situation by not reading the danger.

Then as Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain’s classy effort had salvaged some hope for Arsène Wenger’s side, they proceeded to completely throw away their lifeline. They let Ferreira-Carrasco run the entire length of the half, with just Mertesacker in his path. The German failed to close him down, and David Ospina’s limp hand failed to prevent Carrasco from scoring.

Olivier Giroud endured a torrid evening. He’s been in excellent form since returning from injury but he missed a handful of golden goal-scoring opportunities, blasting one attempt over the bar from around 3 yards out. Giroud is an excellent forward, but lacks the killer instinct that defines world-class strikers. However, when he substituted just shy of the hour mark, Arsenal’s offensive shape became disjointed. Giroud is Arsenal’s focal point; he brings the best out of Arsenal’s midfield men with his intelligent movement; Danny Welbeck didn’t quite carry the same threat when he transferred to a more central role.

However, domestically, the Gunners are going well. They ground out a hard-fought 2-1 victory over a tenacious Crystal Palace last weekend, moving up to 3rd position after defeats for Manchester United and Southampton, to Swansea and Liverpool respectively. They are beginning to demonstrate the consistency required to challenge for the top positions, but can ill-afford a European hangover, because just 4 points separate the Gunners and 7th place Tottenham.

Everton have endured a puzzling campaign thus far. Roberto Martinez enjoyed a fantastic first season at Goodison Park; Everton were Arsenal’s biggest competitors for a top 4 finish, but they just faded slightly in the last few games of the season. Arguably Martinez was revered most by Toffees' supporters for the attacking and exciting philosophy he introduced. Everton achieved great feats under David Moyes, but the style was more functional and rigid, whereas Martinez likes his players to express themselves.

However, is the honeymoon period over? Everton’s fortunes have taken a drastic turn for the worst domestically. Everton are in 12th place on 28 points, just 6 points above the relegation zone. At this stage last season, the Merseysiders were just outside the Champions League places, 17 points better off. Despite this, they are flourishing in the Europa League. They negotiated a difficult group which included Lille and Wolfsburg, before emphatically beating Young Boys 7-2 on aggregate to reach the last 16 stage. Unfortunately for Martinez, his side have been unable to transfer their European form to the domestic stage, but on their day, they are a very dangerous side.

Arsenal fans will inevitably be heading to the Emirates in downbeat mood, so it’s imperative that the North Londoners make a fast start and impose themselves on the contest. Their performance against Monaco was disappointing for so many reasons.

Arsenal must respond on Sunday and quickly. Everton were poor last Sunday against Leicester, only salvaging a point in the closing moments thanks to a Matthew Upson own goal. Their defensive deficiencies have plagued them throughout the year; Phil Jagielka has looked shaky, Leighton Baines has produced some indifferent defensive performances, whilst Tim Howard has been error-strewn of late. There is some uncertainty within the Everton backline that the Gunners will be looking to exploit.

Gabriel Paulista could be in contention to start tomorrow. He made his debut against Championship side Middlesbrough and performed solidly. Everton often adopt a counter-attacking style against Arsenal that has paid dividends in recent meetings. Although Arsenal beat Everton 4-1 in the FA Cup quarter-final 12 months ago, Everton are unbeaten in their last three Premier League meetings against the Gunners. Monaco favoured the counter-attacking approach; absorbing the pressure and then attacking in numbers. Mertesacker was unable to cope, therefore Paulista may be more suited to Sunday’s opponents.

This could be a nervy-affair. Arsenal will be hurting from Wednesday’s surprising defeat, whilst Everton will be keen to find some domestic form and further themselves from the relegation zone. They are 6 points above the bottom three and for a team of their quality, relegation seems like an unthinkable prospect, but they must start to produce the results. Arsenal have the quality and the league form, but the mental strength that Wenger often champions must be prevalent in abundance at the Emirates this weekend.

INJURY NEWS:

Arsenal have no new injury worries since Wednesday’s defeat.  Aaron Ramsey remains sidelined with a hamstring injury whilst long-term absentees Mikel Arteta, Abou Diaby and Mathieu Debuchy are all still unavailable. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returned to the Arsenal squad in midweek, coming on as a substitute and scoring a fine goal, so he may start against the Toffees. Wenger revealed that Jack Wilshere has suffered a minor setback in training and will has undergone minor ankle surgery. However, the Frenchman claims it will keep Wilshere out for days, rather than weeks.

Everton have no new injury concerns. Gareth Barry is expected to start after returning from suspension, whilst Leighton Baines featured last week against Leicester after recovering from a knee problem. Romelu Lukaku limped off on Thursday night against Young Boys, although Roberto Martinez claims it was just a precaution and that Lukaku trained without a problem this morning.

Aiden McGeady has returned to light training but remains unavailable, whilst Steven Pienaar and Bryan Oviedo are both lacking match fitness. Christian Atsu is out of tomorrow's clash due to illness.

Arsène Wenger:

"You play 55 games a year and you have moments where you are disappointed. We want to finish the season in a strong way. "I expect a strong response in the Premier League because it is a different competition. We have an opportunity to maintain our top-three position. There is nobody to blame individually. On the night everything went against us and missing chances was only one characteristic."

Roberto Martinez:

"I don't think Arsenal will suffer from a psychological setback from what happened in their last game against Monaco. I think first and foremost Arsenal have incredible experience in these types of games. It is true that an extra 24 hours in terms of recovery makes a big difference; we need to make sure we are fully fit, refreshed and looking forward to what’s going to be a really exciting game.”

STATISTICS:

Everton are unbeaten in their last 5 Premier League meetings against the Gunners. (W1, D4)

Arsenal have lost just 2 of their last 15 games in all competitions against the Toffees.

Arsenal have won 8 out of their last 9 games in domestic competition.

Everton’s record home and away defeats have both come at the hands of Arsenal.

Predicted Line-Ups:

Arsenal: Ospina, Chambers, Koscielny, Gabriel, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott and Giroud.

Everton: Howard, Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, Baines, Besic, McCarthy, Barkley, Lennon, Naismith and Lukaku.