Unai Emery is developing a winning habit at Arsenal, and he likes it. Against opponents that Arsenal using show their superiority, they won the match with two quick-fire goals during the early stages of the second-half. Everton put up a creditable challenge in the first-half, but strolled and lacked authority once they had gone behind.
Arsenal’s fourth consecutive Premier League victory was in the end deserved, but this was an afternoon when the margins were fine and had Everton brought their shooting boots to the capital then the scoreline could have been quite different. It was telling that Petr Cech was the man of the match and he was deployed often; claiming crosses, stopping shots and even attempting to step into the defence. The obstacle that Bernd Leno faces to get into the league first-team may well have been underestimated.
Cech was there whenever his side needed him; be that saving five shots in the first-half, or making fine stops to deny Michael Keene and substitute, Cenk Tosun, when the game was all but done. It was Arsenal’s first clean sheet of the season, a triumph that Emery will cherish and build from.
For the travelling Merseysiders, the enduring emotion was frustration; both at their own players when they sunk and seemingly admitted defeat following the two goals, and also the officials who allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal to stand despite him being clearly offside. Despite the fact that Everton were the better team before the break and Marco Silva’s team-talk would have been positive, they ultimately wasted their chances in front of goal.
The fluency in attack was certainly a pleasing aspect to both Silva and the Everton supporters; mainly aided by the return to the starting line-up of Richarlison who was head-and-shoulders above his fellow toffees. There was little wrong with Silva’s gameplan and initially Everton knocked their hosts out of their stride. Richarlison was getting the better of both Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal on the flanks.
The fact that Arsenal took awhile to get going may not be directly correlated with the Emirates featuring far too many empty red seats for a prime-time Sunday 4pm kick-off, but there is certainly something in that. There was a lack of atmosphere, a stadium subdued, a mutual agreement between team and fans that neither would encourage each other. But soon enough, as Everton started spurning their chances, all woke up.
Aubameyang and Andre Lacazette – some say shoehorned into the same team – began to interact. Mesut Ozil, the player whom everyone has an opinion on, started to see more of the ball. The initial sense of a lack of imagination started to disperse and the cloudy skies ahead began to clear.
Everton’s high setup and coherent start had panicked the hosts. The Everton captain, Tom Davies, found a hole in the left-hand side of the Arsenal backline and he set Dominic Calvert-Lewin clean through. One-on-one with the goalkeeper, the Everton striker tried to trick past him but was dispossessed by the sliding Cech. The hold-up play of Calvert-Lewin and Richalison was noticeable in the first 15 minutes; both used their pace to test the Arsenal defence.
Lucas Digne and Jonjoe Kenny played absurdly high up the pitch on either flank, and even when not in possession – it eventually proved costly but early on they added numbers to Everton’s attacks. Digne had a free-kick tipped over the crossbar by Cech and Gylfi Sigurdsson released Theo Walcott, but the only player to feature at the Emirates in every season since its opening was denied by a Cech block.
Arsenal had their own chances too, albeit they were few and far between. Aubameyang touched back Bellerin’s cross in the 12th minute for Monreal, which forced Jordan Pickford into his first save of the afternoon. Lacazette who was lacklustre for much of the opening period took a heavy touch when he was in a good shooting position whilst an overhit Aubameyang shot kissed the top of the crossbar.
It was there for Everton’s taking, they had their opponents where they wanted them. But when it came to clinical finishing and taking the match beyond their opponents, Arsenal led the way. The second-half had started with more energy than the first-half had ended with; Aaron Ramsey received the ball from a corner and shot just wide of the Everton goal.
Lacazette – often lacking quality in the final third for the 50-odd minutes that had gone before – took the ball on the edge of the penalty area and lashed it into the far right corner of Pickford’s net. Class and composure combined to give Arsenal control of the encounter. Their second followed three minutes later when Aubameyang converted Ramsay’s flick following a quick Arsenal move. The linesman missed the offside that should have ruled the goal void; once again VAR was sorely missed in the only major European league that is too above itself to think that it needs any officiating assistance.
But rather than running to the referee to protest, the Everton players should have looked at themselves, and in particular, Digne and Kenny who were so far away from their centre-backs that Arsenal were afforded the width of the Thames to guide their way through the inner-channels of Everton’s defence.
The sucker punch was too much for Everton who retreated into their shell and offered little in return. Lucas Torreira, who showed that he is the crucial link between defence and attack that Arsenal have lacked realistically since Gilberto Silva, helped his side see out the two goal win. As Emery shook the hands of his Iberian counterpart, there was a smile across his face. Another win, another three points but more encouragingly another sign that his players are taking on his messages and winning the Emery way.