Two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and one from Eddie Nketiah were sufficient for Arsenal to take three points against Everton at the Emirates today.
Having fallen behind in the opening minute, it was tough going at times against a team who have had two weeks off – and late on we rode our luck and had Bernd Leno to thank for some big saves.
However, a win is a win, and we’re now just four points off 5th place.
Read the Arsenal 3-2 Everton report and see the goals here
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Ratings
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I am smiling again. Just keep it going. COYG!!
That was a wicked cross from Saka!
Thought Ceballos was very, very good. Comfortably absorbs a press and plays the pass to give the space to Luiz to assist Auba. We’re noticeably less tidy in midfield when he comes off the pitch.
Cant point a finger at anyone and say they played badly. That felt like the first really ‘big’ game of the season, and we did it. Very happy.
Also… the tackles Ceballos made!
I felt a bit of Santi in the way he played today! His ability to take the ball under pressure and release the ball with either foot is a real asset.
plus he has a little nastiness in him
The perfect foil to Xhaka, he’s more than happy to play in and out of tight spaces, absorbing pressure to create room for others, when the ball moves quickly and we look dangerous Ceballos is almost always at the base of the move.
Our ball retention and chance creation have noticeably increased with him in the team. Very positive on the ball, always looking to play it forward and really fizzes it into his teammates. The only problem is that without Torreira we also look noticeably more open in midfield. Arteta still trying to get the balance right there.
I agree he was good, but his style of play is very risky and at times put us under unnecessary pressure, there was a certain unbalance in the team which I feel was exacerbated by having him and xhaka in the centre.
I agree to a point – but I reckon if, and when, he toughens into the PL style of playing and reffing (stlll seems to think he will always get a decision from the ref) he will be formidable. He seems to have the character – just needs to get used to the more physical environment.
I know what you mean, but it’s his way – a couple of times he lost possession in a dangerous area, but worked his bum off to win the ball back… And did! Just the fight/bite we need! I like him a lot!
For me he is (or could be) a mix of Cesc, Santi and Freddie as he seemed to be everywhere!
He has many attributes but he needs to toughen up and stop giving the ball way in dangerous places.
MOTM for me.
Ceballos is a special, special player. If he keeps his attitude right he’s gonna be some player. Not many CMs have that combination of technique and tenacity. We HAVE to sign him
Great 3 points and still improving. COYG!
There is much to be desired within the team and performance on the pitch.. But there is definitely a change in the air. Hope this win is a start of something. The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing.
I know the players were tired but please can we just get that safety goal to keep my BP in check?
Auba is just too good
I think we need to get Auba into a new contract asap. He’s playing so well, he could snooze this level for at least another 4 years.
The good old days are returning gradually
I had a bit of that feeling myself. Arteta is just the medicine we needed.
Bit unfair on mustafi tbh, thought he was grand
There’s was a cross put into the box to create a chance he just backed off, no pressure the ball sailed past him and Louis had to dig him out again. Getting hurt in the process. I like mustafi but damn he can’t put pressure on to stop attacks!
sodding auto carrot – Luiz
The problem with Mustafi, even when he seems to be playing well, is waiting for that brain fart.
Agreed, thought he deserved a bit more credit today. Mopped up numerous times with headed clearances and was left isolated more than once on the right against the much faster Richarlson. It was a relief to see him stay calm in those situations and not dive in or be out of position like the Mustafi of the not-so-distant past. Solid overall today.
Agreed. After watching the highlights he had a great game. But still that one piece of defending is what’s criminal backing off and backing off and letting the cross pass you by. It’s a common theme I hate with defenders
I voted my earlier comment down to ?
I only came here to rate mustafi v2.0.
Immense game
Not sure if Guendouzi was instructed to press like that…Arteta clearly was making the 3 across sign suggesting he wanted to play with 3 holding mids. I also thought that if he was going to press up higher it should have been to man mark Andre Silva who was launching all of Everton’s dangerous attacks.
But he also made hand signs that implied that Guendouzi should haul ass all across the pitch. I think Arteta would have put him in his place should he not follow instructions when we’re being hard pressed.
The lad does have a bit of a history of ploughing his own furrow and ignoring coach/manager though…
Fair point, I was more wondering about it all rather than suggest I knew what Arteta said or that Guendouzi didn’t follow instructions
From what I saw Arteta was slapping one hand forward onto the other. I did not know what he meant, until I saw Guendouzi immediately charging down their keeper and defenders. It stopped them passing out from the back and almost gave us 4th goal when Pickford panicked under pressure, ending with Eddie hitting the bar. Excellent tactics from Arteta and wholehearted commitment from Guendouzi.
I watched as Arteta was giving Guendouzi instructions just before he came on. Guendouzi was nodding intently but I have my doubts that he had any idea of what Arteta was trying to tell him.
What a Good ebening, at last! Everyone put in a shift regardless of the fatigue having played twice within the week.
From where I sat Mustafi seemed to be winning all the headers. Well in lad!
Anyone else thing Richarlison shouldn’t have still been on the field to score that goal? Seems like Richarlison himself was wondering that with the nervous look on his face while the ref was deciding what to do and when he was celebrating the goal. The reckless intent was obvious, and one of his boots was studs up. With Aubameyang being sent off with less intent to endanger the opponent recently, this seems a double standard to me, even if Ceballos was quick enough to see the tackle coming and largely avoid the contact today.
Anyone else *think*…
Could we somehow backdoor into the Champions League in 5th place? If you look at the league table and our current trajectory, I actually think it might be possible. Arteta has done a fine job organizing and motivating the squad.
The dreamer in my thinks, that if we can win the next 4 league games, we will be in with a shout for top 4. Big ask but stranger things have happened.
Top 4 is gone. Looking at our remaining games , if we were to get 23 points (and that’s being generous), that would give us 60 points. 60 points is never getting top 4.
If Man City do get kicked out of the Champions League, then 5th place is possible. It would be a huge help in trying to keep our best players like Aubameyang and to attract quality recruits this summer.
We’re only 7 points off top 4. Given that 4th is currently Chelsea who are very inconsistent at the moment, that is certainly possible to make up. Our next 4 games are very winnable. It’s actually Woves I worry about at the moment, they’re in great form
Despite their big win against Spurs, calling Chelsea’s recent form inconsistent is generous.
Am delighted for the three points and I hope the winning run continue as we enter the business end of the season.
One negative – I’m not sure how Richarlison kept on getting so many opportunities to run with time and space deep down our right wing. Whether that was down to Bellerin or Mustafi, or a lack of communication between the two, I don’t know
Both of Everton’s goals were very unfortunate, but also we were very lucky not to concede from those situations
Bellerin, surely. We have no right-sided DM to cover for the RB like Xhaka does on the left. Poor decision making from Hector to be pushing up so high when we were defending a lead.
I didn’t think Bellerin played well at all today, he looks very rusty at the mo.
Pepe and Hector were completely AWOL. Quite bizarre.
10outa10 for the captain surely begs??
Blogs…
A little harsh on Özil, I thought, and a little generous to Bellerin. Mesut had a very productive game, combined well, directed most of our good play going forward, and dug in on defense throughout. Yes, he looked knackered after 80 minutes, but overall a strong performance.
Bellerin occupied the side that Everton were looking to exploit, and while I don’t think Hector had a bad game by any means, the opposition did blow by him several times.
Happy for this win overall though!
No assist, no goal = no good. As simple as that
Cant tell if you’re being ironic or not from your post?
He’s a big Ozil supporter, so irony.
Agree very strongly – I thought Ozil’s flicks and retention of possession were key to our turning the game around.
Saka needs to rest. Good thing he can have at least a week’s break next week.
Cross aside, it’s perhaps good he had such an awful game. I think he’ll learn quite a bit from it.
Stand outs for me were Ceballos running the game, Mustafi with those headers out and strong play, Saka wow and Leno.
Mustafi’s neck is like the snatch-strap pulling a Landrover out of a bog! Serious whiplash power!
Never thought I’d write this, but Mustafi had an excellent game. He won most of his aerial duels, was assured in his passing and read the game well. His rehabilitation from outcast to reliable and dependable defender is nearing completion
Amazing transformation! Couldn’t get him out quick enough a month or so back – now he’s becoming a rock. Long may it continue!
Mustafi deserved an 8.5 at least. Him and Leno are largely the reason why we didn’t draw the match.
His heading is excellent.
In before Santori comes on and says how we should of got Carlo (flabby cheeks) Ancellotti
Arteta has better hair, but no one can beat Ancellotti’s eyebrows.
Mustafi put in an absolute shift, think he deserves a good bit of credit in this one. Dani all over the pitch is a fun new development though agree with the comment that there is an element of risk to his game. Auba just world class.
0/10 Gary Neville’s desperation to see us lose. Snide cunt.
It doesn’t get spoken about because he’s built up a decent reputation on sky sports, but I genuinely think he’s a really poor co-commentator. Honestly, if you turn the sound off, the game is never anywhere near as bad as his droning suggests. His problem is that he can’t seem to separate his in- studio analysis work from the fast pace of covering a live match from commentary. Spends minutes on end over-analysing every detail while the match passes him by (he literally did it as we scored our first goal today). Andy Gray’s commentary was great because it would… Read more »
He was very fond of Unai for some reason. Plus he seems to loathe Arsenal players particularly Mesut. He didn’t like players giving up on Unai.
Bonding with a fellow failure.
Besides, if he didn’t side with Emery he’d have to say Arsenal did something right, which obviously is out of the question.
He and his brother are utter scum. Punching his ugly rat face would make a great bucket-list entry. That and tattooing Valencia on his forehead so that every time he catches a glimpse of his twitchy mug in the puddle by whatever dumpster he’s currently diving, he remembers that he is and always will be a feckless gobshite.
?????Comment of the decade. Infinite thumbs up
Yeah, but how do you really feel?
Only got to see the highlights but thank you for spoiling us with those 3 beautiful, beautiful goals. Can’t stop watching them.
Squeaky bum time for the last 20 or so – but I really hope this win streak will continue! If what I read (elsewhere) is true resigning Saka must be a top priority for the club.
As soon as I saw Don Carlo’s face after the 3rd goal, I knew that would get the 10/10 rating.
I expected to see it as the headline image for one of the post match articles, but now my money is on it showing up in the morning on the blog. It’s just too good.
Harsh on Ozil. Not one of his “fan boys” but thought he did just what he had to do today – he calmed things when needed, got things moving when countering, covered a lot of the pitch, spread play… 7.5 at least for me. Everton are a MUCH better team under CA than they were, and Calvert Lewin is lethal. Good win against a good side. Positive, again.
Patchy game and we were not 100% switched on to second ball in defense leading to a tighter scoreline than necessary. 1) Leno – Thought he could have done better with their second goal. 2) Bellerin – Real struggle today. Fitness and injury still clearly an issue. 3) Mustafi – Strong game from him. Plenty of headers won and no nonsense clearances. Some good balls finding players higher up the pitch as per usual. Seems to have found positioning. 4) Luiz – Unlucky with the first goal. A bit slow (as is Mustafi) in certain circumstances particularly when they regularly… Read more »
Come on, Mustafi has to be at least 7.5. He was immense yesterday
A good win. We need to keep pace with the others.
This team needs another DM to fill in when Lucas is unavailable. As it stands, without Lucas, we can still find ourselves exposed in front of our defensive line.
Seems like i was wrong on Arteta. Hes done a great job and the team does look so much more dangerous going forward. And were so mush more better with Pepe playing than having him on the bench.
Bonus 10/10 G. Neville admitting his commentary was ‘mundane’ on being caught unawares by Eddie’s goal
Most of us were convinced and perhaps quietly wished it alittle bit that Xhaka would be gone in January. Men aint we enjoying a huge slice of that humble pie. I know my face is fully covered in it. Keep going man. The revolution?
You speak the truth Kampala gooner
Bellerin was not a 7. It’s been three years since he made his breakthrough season and he really needs to get back to that standard.
Dug deep and got a good win. Should be a game where our players learn a lot.
Found it odd that Mustafi was left isolated so much on the right.
And anytime we can shut that ratfaced, managerial-flopping, fucktard Neville up, even if only for a an afternoon, is beyond glorious.
What a change to have a Spanish manager who can talk fluently in
English . His use of the past participle of the word ‘knacker’ during his TV interview was so educational.
Really good tactical adaptation by Arteta. With Luiz, Xhaka and Ceballos we have a technical base to bring Ozil into the game. This allows the link to the forward line. Note how Xhaka (in particular) moves to a ‘left sided’ centre back position that opens up the pitch for his range of passing. It also means that he is usually deep in midfield which means that he is ‘run past’ by the opposition far less.
We are not perfect but Arteta is getting the best out of what he has – impressive.