Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Match Report: Everton 0 – 1 Arsenal (Including Goal)

Arsenal climbed to third place in the Premier League after claiming three hard-fought points at Goodison Park thanks to a solitary goal by Thomas Vermaelen.

The Belgian international, picking up where he left off ten days ago at the Emirates, nodded the Gunners into an early lead before producing a superb display in the heart of defence next to Laurent Koscielny.

The 1-0 win, combined with a draw for Spurs against Stoke and Manchester City’s win over Chelsea, means Arsene Wenger’s side now have a one point advantage over their North London rivals with only nine games to go.

The main surprise in Arsene Wenger’s team selection was the inclusion of Aaron Ramsey alongside not just Mikel Arteta and Alex Song, but also Tomas Rosicky. Given the encouraging progress of Oxlade-Chamberlain it was an interesting decision by the boss, although it didn’t take long for the returning midfielder to exert his influence.

After five minutes he was at the centre of our first clear chance of the game. A diagonal ball by Rosicky found Van Persie who cushioned a header down to the advancing Welshman. Just six yards out he fired over with the goal at his mercy.

A minute later the former Cardiff man had a second opportunity, but this time his low attempt was deflected over the bar. Thankfully we didn’t rue the profligacy as Thomas Vermaelen buried a great header past Tim Howard from the resulting corner. It was his second goal in seven minutes following the injury-time winner against Newcastle ten days ago. (GOAL!)

Amazingly Ramsey had a third chance before the ten-minute mark, but again, despite causing all manner of mischief in the penalty box, he was unable to convert.

Encouragingly, our interplay was quick, incisive and direct. Rosicky’s first time passing was particularly impressive as moves flowed down the left hand side, while on the right Walcott and Sagna dovetailed well. Arteta and Song seemed to patrol the centre of the park and the team as a whole closed down well high up the pitch.

Everton looked shaky as Arsenal dominated possession, although they nearly scored out of nothing after an Osman header dropped just wide on 13 minutes. The chance roused the Goodison faithful as the home side began to play with a higher tempo.

On the half hour mark Everton scored what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate goal. As the Gunner defence pushed up, Royston Drenthe was slipped through by Tim Cahill and calmly slotted past Szczesny. Amazingly the linesman decided to incorrectly flag the Dutchman offside. It was a bad decision and very harsh on the hosts.

Judging by the raging ginger Scot prowling the touchline, it was obvious Moyes wasn’t impressed. You couldn’t help but think there was some level of payback after Louis Saha’s goal blatantly offside goal at the Emirates last year.

Despite looking comfortable for much of the half there were further scares. A nonchalant Szczesny clearance was nearly directly converted by Jelavic before the Croat, playing on the shoulder of Vermaelen, came close to springing the offside trap to bear down on goal.

There was one final chance for Arsenal before the break; Rosicky pulled off a full-blooded half-volley from the edge of the box which Howard parried. However, in truth the half-time whistle was something of a blessing.

Sagna, who’d been booked in the first half, began the second by giving away another free-kick in a dangerous position. Leighton Baines whipped in a dangerous set-piece only for Jelavic’s header to land straight in Szczesny’s hands.

The early pressure continued with Koscielny and Vermaelen having to be at their nimble best to keep the Blues at bay. In helping out his Belgian teammate, the French centre-back got a clattering from Cahill and had to receive treatment. The Australian somehow got away without a caution.

On 54 minutes a lofted Song pass found Gibbs who headed across the box for Van Persie to connect on the volley. The linesman, again incorrectly raised his flag, as our striker hit the post with a crisp effort.

It was as if the officials felt a need to make things up to the home side after their performance in the first half as they soon after denied Arsenal a penalty when Rosicky was taken down in the box by Drenthe. It should have been a spot-kick.

It was a real scrap for 15 minutes before Ramsey had two more efforts in quick succession. His passing may not have been quite as accurate as his teammates, but the Welsh midfielder certainly found himself in dangerous positions all night.

Everton threw on two strikers in Gueye and Anichebe as they looked to rescue a point in the final 12 minutes. Wenger reacted by removing Walcott and putting on Gervinho. The Ivorian first piece of the action saw him race half the field before cutting the ball back for Van Persie, only for the Dutchman to fire high and wide.

Looking to waste time, and presumably to shred the nerves of Arsenal supporters the world over, Wenger sent on Djourou for Rosicky. Moyes added further firepower to his side by taking off Cahill and adding the mercurial Argentine Denis Stracqualursi to the mix.

In a game bereft of any serious delays, the assistant referee displayed just three minutes of injury-time, which the side calmly played out near the travelling fans.

It was a tremendous victory, a victory of graft rather than guile, but one which could well be very important come the end of May.

Make sure you find the nearest Spud and tell him to ‘mind the fucking gap.’

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WOO

Mind the Gap, YOU MUGS.

jay

WE SHOWED MENTAL STRENGTH. defended a one goal lead for 82 minutes, massive achievement away from home.

p.s. fuck jelavic, looks like we’ve got another diver in the league, and fuck everyone who kicked Rosicky’s shins, happened so many times.

TAMCK

Saying that, there was some not particularly gratifying simulation from Kos during the game as well. He needs to get a bollocking – Arsenal don’t need to resort to that stuff.

AMURICAH

I thought kos’ dive was hilarious

Merlin's Panini

Couldn’t agree more on Jelavic. Whiney diving little bitch.
Thing with Rosicky is that he seems to get kicked every single game. It’s been like that all season. Whenever he starts getting forward it’s the same thing.

Hopefully we’ve finally shut up those Shitspur morons down the road. They’ve had their moment in the sun and now it’s time for them to fuck off back to their manky little cave.
Come on you gooners!!

gooner

Who, the best team in the league this year? With the best run in and the best manager in England?
Heh his dog did manage his monaco account better than he did his 10 point advantage

ramgooner

2nd place.possible!?i don’t wanna look back anymore.chelski,sp*ds,newcastle and mugsmashers.they play in a league of their own.it’s like a fatal 4 way.they hit eachother randomly without any clear objective.it’s like they are being paid to spice up the premier league.fucking cheerleading wankers.
now we are behind our real competitors in the league.although i believe man shitty just got lucky this season.our focus next season should go on topping man utd.we had them infront of us for too many years.it’s time for wenger to get ahead of sir chewing gum.
UP THE ARSE

Maddo

AW words re the game and our position in the league :” We know what suffering means because in some press conferences I had to answer ‘are you playing not to go down’. I love this man….. I wonder where the trolls and the haters are now. Keep the faith supporters and fans , we have only 8 games to go, and then a new beginning/season with some new fresh blood, plus LANS in JW19, Diaby, Per Merte, Frimpong, The Coq and no injuries ( Please). P.S. The Cardiologist and Bolton players Doctor re Fabrice Muamba tell their stories on… Read more »

Runcorn Gooner

Someone ought to explain the offside rue to jelovic,is it different in Scotland?
Brilliant performance with a few scares,but it wouldn’t be Arsenal without them.
The officials were awful.Lee Mason allowed a number of Everton fouls to go
unpunished and the first Arsenal foul (Sagna) he gets booked.
Great atmosphere at the worst stadium in the EPL.

Chaplin35

Well deserved win, good lads!!

Chaplin35

What a day, mugsmashers managed to lose, sp*rs only just managed to get a point, and Chelsea lost, so it’s almost a perfect evening

Spooner

Mind the gap.. Hahahahahahhahaha!!!

Chaplin35

Is it not 2 point gap Mr Blogger with the team down the lane?

Chaplin35

my mistake, it is 1 point 🙁

Jake

sometimes you gotta win ugly. Fantastic 3 points.

3rd place baby!!!!

Mr Borg

Arsenal never wins ugly, every single win is beautiful!

Voldermort

Mind the gap, what fucking gap? What a great night. The silence from the muppets down the road will be deafening.
Always and forever in our shadow. Perhaps now they will know thier place.

VegasGooner

Sorry to repeat it but, Mind the Gap !!! What a great day to be a Gooner…

Josh

Jelavic got Denched!!

If fourth is a trophy whats 3rd? I dare not imagine…

TAMCK

3rd is the same trophy but with Emile Heskey’s smiling face stenciled into the metal.

Witoldo

The 3rd place trophy looks like a stack of 25 million pounds in a big pile. The 4th place trophy looks similar, only you have to go to some Eastern European hole and win a soccer game to get it.

vlado

aaaannndd exhaleeeeee.

these tight last minutes are killing me :-).

gunner16

i know we’ve won (and I can’t help saying this) but it was just such a poor performance. We were rested. we were raring to go. I tuned in after 15 minutes and found that we were up against it right from the get-go. Don’t understand why we didn’t chase the second goal. Instead it seemed to me that we were once again inviting Everton pressure and making mistakes. So many mistakes. when SZCZ has possesion i’m so nervous I don’t know why he does those things like that 1-2 with whoever. O

gunner16

only Koscielny and TV5 turned up. Rosicky seemed to try, Van Persie( how can I be critical of him?) was not at his best. The permanently frustrating Walcott and Ramsey were telling fans to endure another anon performance.
We won though. somehow. we had better do better next time.

gunner16

Overall, pretty disappointed that RVP didn’t score.

Josh

Can this be true?!

RvP 90 minute goal drought?

We are doomed! 😐

diefenbaker

took the words right out of my mouths, awesome defending though

drhersy

we should throw walcott away to juventus and get krasic,the guy is a headless fucking chicken.ramsey may grow in to something but now you feel he is lost in the middle of the park. i remember he was better before that night at stock.

come onnnnnnnnnnnn gunners

Cygan's Right Foot

Fuck me, who pissed in your cornflakes?? We have beaten a team at home that took on and beat Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham, while also extending our winning streak. My god, we keep winning and it’s horrible. I mean, why can’t we win every game 4-0, it’s not good enough…. Jesus, most people would agree that 1-0 was the Arsenal way of old and also the score used during our invincibles era. Walcott – Has been playing better and better since Sagna came back but found himself up against a David Moyes trained defence (that’s the thing he does… Read more »

noelson

”Fuck me, who pissed in your cornflakes??” hahaha.. nice one..
btw @gunner16.. you missed the first 15 minutes of the game? that was the highlight of the match..lol.. inform yourself and quit moaning about 6 game win streak. some people.. they watch football because it’s something easy to cry about.

…the get go is from minute ‘1’ MINUTE ‘1’! =-D

Josh

It was a good defensive performance except for the Drenthes goal. Thats shown in the stats where Everton had only 2 goals on target. Granted that we should score more with the chances we had. Cant complain thought, winning ugly works!

Binda

i agree with you that ramsey should have been taken out after a while as he seemed to die out but walcott had his moments. i just thought that ramsey was hurting our play as he wasn’t out on the left because he drifted in

TAMCK

There was nothing going down the left at all. Combined with his couple of clear chances that he incredibly didn’t put away, I don’t know what to say about him really.

I’m going to guess Ox was slightly injured, because there’s no way Ramsey should be playing on the wing before both him and Gervinho.

Jake

i think TR7 was supposed to play on the left. Rambo isn’t quite there yet, but i think he just needs time. He seems to get in the right possition, and its still just “almost” with him.

jeff

Why don’t you post on the ultra negative Gooner?

Jesus, there’s no pleasing some people. Everton’s last three league games at home, beat scum, cheatski and man c.

Online Gooner still negative with comments like “no credit to the manager”

Great win, come on you mighty Gunners

Bob

Seems like our back four have been watching videos of our golden back four – all move up and stick your arms in the air – worked a treat. They were class all game. Seems Keown was right, our back four is good enough, but as we all know how it felt when Djourou came on (not bashing the lad, I know he’s got the ability in him) the problem lies in consistent depth. Maybe we’ll have a low injury season one of these days…. ha.

Dannyboy

Fantastic turnaround for the second half of the season. We go third, knocking the spuds down to 4th. An 11 point swing on the spuds in just 4 games. It doesn’t get much better then that. What a night!

falafel

An ugly win..!
Just what the captain called for.

Scooter

Pretty disappointed with the result actually as we did’t come from behind. Made it pretty dull.

Also, TV5 is now tied with Theo as our second highest scorer in the league this year. Fucking love that guy.

Mooro

Lee Morgan says hello. Wahahahaha.

Runcorn Gooner

I am more interested in Lee Morgans mum.

bob's your uncle

MIND THE GAP! YOU SPUDS…BIG FUCKING .LOL

T.V.5

Roll out the red carpet for St. Totteringham day

bob's your uncle

no lasagne this time… just a load of rotten spuds.

do we have the prem record for wins in a row now?

Good Omens

Well yes, but we already did. 14 in 2002. The way things have panned out this season, I’ll take the six at present and anymore that happen to come our way 🙂

Binda

offside goal? naha i call it karma for saha’s offside goal last year

Mos

Thank you Nasri! What? The lad scored an important goal for us too! 😛

gunn cabinet

ahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahaahahhhahahahahhhahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!
Who woulda thunk it! The best that the spuds can offer in 50 fucking years is not even
good enough for the worst of the gunners in history!!!!!!
Well; maybe not in history, but what the hell!
Hahahahhhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhaha!!!!!!!

Mooro

Causes of St Totteringham’s Day:

2006 – need a result against WHU, lasagne strikes

2012 – 2-0 up at our gaff and Le Sagna strikes.

Deja fuckin vu.

John Erganian

lasagna struck and so did benayoun!

Will

Koscielny outstanding tonight,. has been our defender of the season,.

oh and spurms can go fuck right off,. tonight was a great night for us 🙂

Only one TEAM in London.

CB

Totts, Chelsea and Citeh have all lost their recently. So we deserve credit for the three points, however gained.

CB

*there

Oleg Luzhny

Didn’t get a chance to watch the game, so I can’t comment on how they played. But 3 points is 3 points and that’s what is wanted at the end of the day. If Man United did this, it’s the “stuff of champions”, but Arsenal win ugly and there is a different spin, I don’t like that whatsoever.

Ecstatic with the other results though, if you consider the poor start and and holiday season speed bump, feels fantastic to be in 3rd. Arsene still knows.

gedi

is it still a gap if it’s now……. -1pt?

FOYY…… Cunts! 🙂

Ok

We are the kings of London!!!

Kenyangooner

Come on Chelsea….here is an added incentive for the weekend….either way…there gonna be a beauti of a health gap for the gooners! Hahahahahaha!! Hahahahaha! oh..he who laughs last, laughs like a fucking gooner! Bwahahahaha! Aye! Twitchy! Hehehehehe…..aye 10 point lead 5prud2! bwahahaha!! Get in there you gooners!!

Rodders1971

Great stuff,winning ugly will do for me!By the way what the fuck was Felliani doing for TV’s goal,was that straight from Belgium’s training camp?

sreenath

that was exactly my thought on the goal.Fellaini cud have easily put that one away.BUT then you cud see an everton guy enthusiastically popping up and might have blocked the view of ball from Fellaini. Anyway a beautiful header did the job for us.

Gunner4life

Thank you thank you thank you arsenal. I knew it was gonna be very difficult at everton, and you certainly need luck playing there at this time of the season. 1 point ahead of spurs. Spurs and chelsea play each other this, things couldn’t be better!!!:-)

Xenon

Being the best spuds team in 50 years is like being the slim kid at fat camp….
shit always stinks…..
Arsenal We Love You

Eric Irish gunner

Ah hahahahaha spurs wankers harry looked like he seen a fucking ghost, notice his calls for England job are dropping like their fucking league position mind the gap spuds

Goonerhaea

As usual, it’s great to be a gunner! Looks like the players listened to De Kapitein and won ugly. Cue RVP saying, “We need to play like we did the Sp*ds”, then the decimation of Aston Villa on Saturday, followed by the rest of them 8 teams including them two that played in Shitty tonight! COYG

Voldermort

Ok maybe not our best display. But defending is as much a part of winning games as scoring goals.
Our defence were great again. One or two players where not really on it tonight but that can happen. A few weeks ago one or two players having an off day would have filtered through to the whole team.
We really do seem to have that mental strength now. Goodison is a tough place to go so ide take an ugly win there any day of the week.

Redsy

Vermaelen is a thing of beauty …Theres an Arsenal love fest going on im my place right now.
Bake the cakes for St Totterings Day !!!

Midfield Corporal

Was it a poor decision to disallow the offside goal? Surely even under the new guidance the Everyon player on the edge of the six yard box was active.
Some funny refereeing throughout I thought. Cahill and another committed yellow card fouls with no punishment the Sagna got booked for his first foul.
Thank you Nasri, you may be a cunt, but Cunts are actually alright.

Mos

The TV replays of the offiside goals weren’t in line with the players so it was really hard to tell if the calls were correct but yeah I thought the linesman was signalling offside for the other guy and not Drenthe.

Der Springer

I also though that the other Everton player, being so far offside and in such an obviously perfect position to receive a pass for a simple tap in, could be considered active. SZNY had to consider the pass possibility as he considered his positioning.

Hucks

Thomas Vermaelen, he scores when he wants!

Villa at the Grove next. Let’s hope Spurs keep dropping like Pele’s floppy cock!

Rad Carrot

Excellent win, truly cracking result. Performance wasn’t great but no team performs brilliantly game in, game out. We still deserved that victory, although I’ll brace myself for the inevitable media backlash that a bad decision was actually in our favour this time around. Goodison is a fortress and this was one of three games that I was truly worried about. Before the game I was saying I thought we needed at least 25 points out of the 30 to ensure at least 4th place – this certainly helps us out, and I stand by that guess. Some great results for… Read more »

GunnerDareMKD

Can somebody tell me when was the last time we won 5 games in a row and more importantly of those 5 , 4 were very very difficult games. My point is we have what it takes to win the title next season we showed that with the last 5 games,we need just 2 more quality players podoslki is one and he is coming and the second one maybe hazard or gotze, not to mention injury free wilshere for the next season. One more thing I bet the gong for menager of the month will be going again for Wenger… Read more »

Witoldo

We won six on the trot in October/November.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the reason we’ve consistently been falling short in terms of winning things is squad depth. The injuries will inevitably come sometime next year, and I’m not sure we can cover. Pray that we stay healthy in the run in. One centreback injury and it could get ugly.

Cygan's Right Foot

Sometime next year when we have the summer transfer window in between? Wow, you really are predicting it far in advance aren’t you.
Also, you can only have 25 registered players excluding under 21’s and if you don’t have enough homegrown players, then the number drops. In a couple of years, the Chamberlains, Wilsheres, Ramseys, etc… will add to the homegrown quote and we’ll also have a new batch of under 21’s. It’s not brilliant but that’s the new rules.

Please boo nasri at the emirates

Hahahahahaha suck on that!!, and with chelsh1t and rottenegg coldspurs playing on saturday. Whatever the result, we’l take it….gunner!

rvp

They say kids some beligan nutter called tommy V was the main reason the team who shall not be named in london and its supporters disappeared in a big giant gap!!!!

dave the gooner

so good, so good… 3 points at everton how ever they come is fantastic. they are a good team. i am so happy and i am on a promise for the weekend. does not get better than this. mind the fucking gap!!!

CAGooner

The important thing is, that having gone on top of the Spuds, order has been restored to the universe.

Goonerific

Arsenal….The Canon…I Love This Fucking Team…COYG

man.t

@gedi, what’s FOYY?

Dick Swiveller

At a guess ‘fuck off you *racial slur*s’.

In other news, Arsenal are better than Spurs. Not really news but it’s worth repeating.

morefiah

Cant resist saying this: Just a few short months ago, quite a number of us on here were calling for AWs head. Others of us were saying “trust the manager, he’s never let us down as far as love for the club or trying to do whats best for the club is concerned.” Yes, he makes mistakes, but he is human. His record for us MUST count for something. At times it felt like we were the minority. Fast forward to today….. AFC is rolling like a train, picking up steam and clearing all out of our way with our… Read more »

Witoldo

When we collapse and finish fifth, you’ll be calling for his head too.

Cygan's Right Foot

Weren’t you claiming we’d be lucky to finish in the Europa league places all season Witoldo? I hope when the season is over and we close the gap on 2nd, you don’t celebrate. I mean, it’ll be bloody hypocritical if you did

Witoldo

No, not at all, and I’m very surprised to hear you think that, considering the frequency I post here and in the Arses. I think I’m one of the most consistent supporters of this current collection of players and Wenger on the site. Even after Milan away and the FA Cup debacle, when certain bloggers were writing articles about how it would best to finish seventh so something equally dramatically would happen in the summer and every second comment was “player X is shit, sell him in the summer!” or “fucking American ruining the team, Kroenke out!” , I was… Read more »

Naija Gunner

I have said we’ll take our rightful place, and that’s finishing above those scum-bags cunts called spurds.

Now the journey continues, shity can still lose and we can get them too….I love the Arsenal coz I believe! COYG

Fatgooner

The great thing now is that we have gone from playing well and losing to playing badly or averagely and winning.

Great habit to have!

Cygan's Right Foot

According to most commentators, it’s the sign of champions. Long may it continue well into next year

gooner odst

I am convinced that the linesman was a gooner, if I were an everton fan i’d be pretty fookin’ pissed off…

but hey……………..shit happens. It happens to us quite a bit mainly of our own doing.

Midfield Corporal

Moyes is such an ungracious loser. Wasn’t he claiming a few months ago that he doesn’t blame refs. On MOTD interview he claims that the Lino got 5 offsides wrong for them, he needs to been pulled up by the FA, they got one wrong, one wrong for us, and rosicky should have had a pen (which MOTD edited out of their highlights). Perhaps if Jelocic wasnt diving all the time they may have scored.

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