Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Vieira, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah
Subs: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Jorginho, Havertz, Trossard, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Jesus
Arsenal secured their fourth win from five Premier League games after beating Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park thanks to a stunning strike from Leandro Trossard.
Mikel Arteta made two changes to the side that beat Manchester United two weeks ago, with David Raya replacing Aaron Ramsdale for his Arsenal debut and Fabio Vieira coming in for Kai Havertz.
Arsenal dominated the early stages but struggled to create any clear cut chances, with their first glimpse at goal coming through Vieira who fired over the bar from 20 yards with his weaker right foot.
The pressure would eventually tell when Gabriel Martinelli finished expertly after being played through by Fabio Vieira – his first goal of the season – although the strike was later disallowed by VAR after Eddie Nketiah was deemed offside in the build up.
Replays showed Nketiah was marginally offside when the ball was played, although it was diverted into his path by Everton striker Beto. Match officials deemed his touch of the ball ‘unintentional’ despite Gabriel not even looking to find the Arsenal centre forward with his initial pass, which kept the game goalless.
It would eventually be a double blow for Arsenal and Martinelli who was forced off with an injury moments later with Leandro Trossard coming on to replace him.
Arsenal lost some zip after the disallowed goal and Everton came into the contest – they began to test Gabriel and William Saliba with more long balls – but there was little in the way of chances for either side before half time.
However, Arteta’s men came out firing after half time and had two chances in quick succession, with Jarrad Branthwaite intercepting what would have been an easy tap-in for Nketiah before Martin Odegaard stung the palms of Pickford after good work from Declan Rice.
Following a similar pattern to the first half, pressure was beginning to mount and after some nearly moments for the visitors, it was a sensational team move that eventually broke down the Toffees’ stubborn backline.
The Gunners worked another short corner – their ninth of the day until that point – around a crowded Everton penalty area, with Odegaard finding Saka down the right who eventually cut back for Trossard whose beautiful left-footed finish found the corner. 1-0.
It had been a mixed afternoon for the Belgian up until then but that moment of quality was another reminder of his penchant for spectacular goals and proficiency on either foot.
Odegaard should have made it 2-0 minutes later but his effort was again central and saved by Pickford, before Vitaliy Mykolenko threw his body in front of Vieira’s goalbound strike after the ball found its way to the Portuguese on the edge of the area.
Naturally, Arsenal began to drop off as Everton pushed on for an equaliser but their attacking play was limited to set pieces and other scrappy moments, with Saliba and Gabriel combining well to handle second-half substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
It wasn’t always pretty but the Gunners were well worth their win on Merseyside and that much-needed moment of quality from Trossard was enough to end their six-year hoodoo at Goodison Park.
All the possession and shots and that VAR offside was bollocks I’m sorry.
Nevertheless Arteta said we need to be scoring 100 goals a season and we are way off that pace.
Nice finish for Trossard!
Take that you fuckers
It might not have been the most aesthetic performance, but for once we came to Goodison Park, and against Sean Dyche, and delivered the result we needed. Well done lads!
I’ll take it.
3 points is 3 points.
A much needed clean sheet, too
All the arteta bets paid off. Glad to end the so called goodison curse. Weldone Supa Mik and the boys!!!
Still not at our best yet… but it’s brilliant that we can still pick up these points.
Obviously changed offside rule it always used to be attacker had to play the ball forwards, not sideways, and not defender passing back
That was a dodgy call. I was screaming at the screen that that came off the defender and wasn’t a pass intended for Eddie. One of many shocking calls made by the ref who is a living trope for every corrupt cop in every TV series ever filmed.
It needs to be a deliberate play of the ball by the defending team to not be offside, but it wasn’t. Unfortunately for us, it was the right call. Disappointed that Nketiah was offside from there more than anything tbh, but luckily it didn’t matter in the end.
Thanks maniac I stand corrected, unfortunately.
No worries mate. I think it’s one of those rules that has changed quite a lot over time (I distinctly remember that glancing Gerrard header back towards Suarez at the World Cup), so a lot of people recall those older instances over the new changes.
Can I just say congrats to you both for having a rational, level-headed discussion without egos in a football chat board? Well done both of you!
He lunged for the ball. How is that not deliberate play?
Because, bekievexit or not, he has to be deliberately playing the ball in that specific direction. The defending player has to be in contril of where they put it. Similar to the backpass rule. Just lunging in and getting a bit on it isn’t enough.
Daft rule, but correctly applied.
That’s not correct. The defender must only be playing the ball. If he miskicks it and it goes in exactly the opposite direction that he wanted, he has still played the ball and an opponent who receives that miskick is not offside. On Martinelli’s goal, the VAR ruled–rightly or wrongly–that the ball deflected off the defender and that he did not “play” it.
100% correct, Maniac. The rule was changed at the start of last season. The defender now has to have an actual chance to control the ball for it to count as having been played by the defender rather than the attacker, and that ball was driven at the defender from a couple of yards. Regardless of whether or not the pass was intended for Nketiah, he’s the one who received it and when it was played forward, he was in an offside position. Correct decision by VAR.
I think language was added to try to clarify the difference between a “deflection” and playing the ball. The offside law itself has probably not been changed in decades.
It’s literally changed about 5 times in last decade which is why there’s still so much confusion over it.
They justify the decision by saying the Everton player’s touch was involuntary. It was good to see the players didn’t drop after that though.
The Everton player just reacted with a reflex from a misguided pass from Big Gaby. There was no intention whatsoever. Right call!
Imo, the only big mistake the ref made was not awarding Mykolenko with a yellow for the foul on Saka in the first half. There wasn’t even a whistle.
Which fouled on saka by myolenko? There were about four that warranted cards.
but this one wasn‘t even awarded! 🤮🤮🤮
That’s not the right call at all. They’re misinterpreting the rule. Gabi plays the ball sideways and the attacker plays it forwards, makes no difference weather he means it.
For example if Gabi simply takes a touch and doesn’t attempt to pass the ball, then the Everton player does the exact same thing and the ball goes to Eddie, is that offside too? Of course not.
Go watch the Salah goal vs Wolves last season and see how they justified that decision too.
It’s up for interpretation, but Gabi plays a very bad and heavy pass. The Everton player stands very close. His “pass” was not deliberate. How could it be from that distance?
The Salah goal was the reason language was added to clarify that it should not have counted.
Absolutely definitely not the right call. He stuck out his leg to block the ball, and blocked the ball. The rule says there has to be deliberate intention to play the ball. He deliberately intended to play the ball.
I agree, I though the ref had a very good match. He certainly wasn’t a factor in the outcome. Mykolenko should have been booked, but I think that’s the only obviously wrong decision he made.
It will be fun seeing this Elbowton team get relegated.
Spend the whole game time wasting and then moan about the added time, boo the players being fouled, etc etc. The faster these orcs are relegated the better.
Whoever we plug into that Xhaka position our midfield just doesn’t seem to click into gear yet this season. Oh Granit, as much as we learned to appreciate you maybe even then not quite enough.
Still, much rather ponder about that after a win
Thought Vieira did very well alongside martinelli – trossard very different player and drifts around a lot more and didn’t work as well. Certainly much more effective than havertz has shown to date
I didn’t think much of Vieira to be honest. I feel that smith-rowe has more of a knack for influencing key moments in a game.
Vieira can give you that moment of magic occasionally but I think he needs a bit more time to develop a consistency of being able to impact the game across 90mins. ESR maybe doesn’t have that same sublime skill but he kind of has everything else you want in a midfielder, on paper at least. It’s hard to imagine what being glued to the bench for the first 5 games would do to one’s psyche…
And by that I mean ESR the player, not the ESR that stands for Everton Sofucking Relegated
Ah, the ESR problem… he’s a misfit at this club through no fault of his own. His talent is so great that we didn’t want to sell low on him, but he’s clearly not a profile Arteta wants or needs. He is a threat on the counter, a high volume and high distance ball carrier, and has a knack for timing his runs and arriving in the box at the right moments, and can instinctively strike a good ball. That’s valuable. But. He’s not going to go 1 v 1 on the flank like Saka, he’s not going to pick… Read more »
Agree about most of it but i think you left out a key skill of his which is to turn and accelerate in tight spaces and carry the ball, I think that’s something he does better than any of our current midfielders and is really helpful against a low block or press, so I would be surprised if Arteta doesn’t think that fits his system. He also has a wide body type and was very strong for his age, so if he gets the off ball and defensive part right he could end up being a more athletic Xhaka with… Read more »
ESR doesn’t do enough defensive work or pressing to warrant starting in the PL or CL. He is a situational sub at this point until he adds those to his game.
I love the player but we don’t carry passengers on defense anymore.
We “don’t carry passengers on defense anymore”?! You’ve seen Zinchenko play, right?
And ESR is never given a chance is very interesting to me at the moment,,, just hoping things might change
I really hope to see ESR get some minutes, somewhere.
Me too
Relegate these orcs already, they deserve it.
Raya fills me with calmness.
Totally different from how the other goalie just Rams it in. I get you.
He wasn’t really tested today but you always felt if he was he would save anything. How can we have best 2 keepers in Premier, got to admit Ederson is quite good
Wasn’t really tested today but he definitely has an aura of calmness around him. Passing is excellent!
There was a time where the Evertonians tried to press him after a slow pass from one of our defenders, the way he lured the on rushing Everton attacker in before nonchalantly stabbing the ball to Saliba was very reassuring. And let’s talk about how he confidently claimed those crosses… can see why he started.
Really worried for Ramsdale. Raya is calm as ice.
You can definitely see why we’ve gone for him. Definitely fills that ball playing goalkeeper role much more than Ramsdale does, but that’s not all that makes a great keeper.
It will prove a bad decision this two No. 1 idea. Confidence is the No 1 ingredient for GKs. Do not touch that unless you start losing games because of them.
Then whom replaces him????
Old paradigm thinking. Stopping the ball from going in the net is the #1 ingredient for GK’s.
He’s like a Raya sunshine
3 points in the bag. Nothing less, nothing more.
1 nil Arsenal
How long before they start calling us “boring boring Arsenal”? 😂
I don’t think I’ll mind. I love a controlled performance. Give me this every week. The players don’t run themselves into the ground, and we pick up maximum points.
We need 100 goals or did you forget?
Being serious, 1-0 is not control. It’s risk.
At what point did you feel Everton we’re going to score? For me, the answer was never. There is such thing as a controlled 1-0 win.
Were
I think Mikel took what the game gave him today. It was as under control as any 1-0 could be.
We don’t need 100 goals. If we get 100 points, we win the league.
I did say pre match that it was big call starting nketia up front. He’s not a top team striker. 9 touch’s in 65 minutes. I know many on here want to support him and believe he’s good enough but he’s not unfortunately. Decent to come off bench with 15 to go but we are in trouble if we have to start him. Big win.
Didn’t get in the box for great crosses either. Criminal.
I would always start Jesus against such a deep block. He can create a spark that Eddie just can’t. Eddie was invisible today.
Probably didn’t want jesus starting 3 games in a week.
It made sense to start him as he’s been playing pretty well and you can’t punish him for that. Thankfully he probably tied his own noose today, and Jesus will be back in for the next game I’m sure.
Nketiah flourishes against a high block that he can run behind. He just doesn’t have the technical prowess to navigate those tight spaces like Jesus does. Potentially a mistake from Arteta, but with Jesus coming back from injury my guess is that it was more of a precaution.
It’s poor man management to drop your sole backup strike immediately when the better replacement comes.
Doing that affects confidence badly.
Eventually when you need your backup on bad days, he will be so down on morale that he won’t be useful.
Arteta is spot on
Eddie is not great off the bench, much better when he starts. Like Earlcourt says, would be terrible man management to just drop him.
The last 5 consecutive starts last season before he was dropped he scored none assisted none, never had a shot on target and created one chance for odegarrd against villa. He ain’t better when he starts. We dominated today and had 75% possession and he had 9 touches in 65 minutes. Open your eyes my friend.
What you saying wait till you drop points and then drop as any sooner would hurt there feelings. Cheese and bread.
I see Henry on the bench and Wiltord, Adebayor or even Aliadiere or Owusu playing. Comparing Nketiah to the first two makes sense. No intention to compare him with the last two.
I don’t think it’s quite so intricate. Eddie has been training really well and has been scoring too, so it’s continuity, but it’s also a nod to Everton’s physicality and deep block. Jesus will put himself about and he’s really strong, but Eddie is the stouter of the two when it comes to playing through contact. I think that’s why he got the start. But it wasn’t enough. Tarkowski and Braathwaithe swallowed him up and he didn’t get involved in the buildup. In the second half though he had Eddie drop much deeper and pushed his wingers higher. That type… Read more »
Eddie needs to get better involved in the buildup to help facilitate scoring opportunities for our wingers. We score from the wings and midfield typically not from the 9.
I fucking love a one nil to the Arsenal
Thoroughly unenjoyable to watch except for the brilliant goal. Slow and lacking in creativity, Everton frustrated for far too long. I really hope Everton and their whiny fans go down.
That Vieira assist for the Martinelli goal was wonderful to watch tooMartinelli is easily, easily our best finisher in the team… would love to see him given more of those clear cut opportunities.
Great result, but they’re going to have to up the tempo in upcoming games.
Raya clean sheet on his debut, well done. Still hoping to have Rammsdale back for CL. We got two great keepers with biblical old testament names innit, David and Aaron. One is a king, the other a prophet.
3 Gabriels (angel), Jesus, David, Aaron, Mohamed (prophets). Something divine is definitely brewing up there!
Rubbish game but a fantastic winning goal. Trossard is class.
We haven’t looked like potential champions so far this season and today was no exception. We laboured against a rubbish Everton side that look like they will finally go down this season.
We showed nice grit, unlike last season up there, but were sloppy.
A nice 3 points, but we need to move up a few gears to win the title.
MOTM? Nobody.
I’d go with Saliba for MOTM. Calm as always. Offensively there wasn’t much to cheer.
Odegaard for me. And Raya didn’t put a foot wrong, also Ben White was awesome and Trossard scored a blinding winner. Take your pick
Nobody mentioned Zinchenko but he was at the heart of the second half push that resulted in the goal. His directness with passes over the top and willingness to shoot was the injection we needed. I thought he was hugely important.
For once I kind of agree with everything you said, what’s happening here lol
Literally can’t think of anyone I’d give MOTM to, maybe Saliba or Gabriel as neither commited any mistakes, but they weren’t exactly called upon much either.
Today I agree with you.
I don’t disagree, I just think the things that are missing are not big things, just tiny fractions of composure in the appropriate areas. The way most of the players take the time to shape their bodies to shoot is very natural and very good when there is both time to do so and a clear path to goal. But in the PL you so often don’t get one or the other. Our shooting is too often too predictable. It takes too long to wind up and teams get 2-3 bodies in the way, so potential goals are often blocked.… Read more »
👍🏻, motm ben white
a win is a win, but i have 2 questions:
Raya hasn’t played since May. I get the scrutiny, but it seems logical to let him find his feet.
Raya was very calm and oozed convince. I love Ramsdale but if I don’t let heart rule me head I think Raya is better suited to us.
Controlled. Reminded me of City. Not sure if I like it, but great win and what a goal. Vieira looks a lot more ready for PL now
City would’ve killed the game. What was Odegard doing when we had a 3v1 after scoring? You need to put these games to bed as soon as you can. This is our biggest weakness!
Agreed, Viera really suprised me so far. I was very critical of him, but he seems to have finally arrived in England!
agree, this season, we are no lethal yet, hopefully we can start become more lethal next week
Trossard and Vieira were fantastic. Rice excellent.. everyone else meh but 3 points in the bag thank god
I know they did away with the “Played onside” rule, but when Gabriel attempted his pass to Saliba, he didn’t play the ball forward. That is about the worst offside decision I’ve ever seen! Still, we won in the end.
Also, I know the Everton player didn’t play the ball exactly where he wanted to, but he deliberately played it, and put a lot of force on the ball. It’s not like an attempted clearance which skimmed off an opponents head or shin or something!
This is the way forward with Kai also.. Let him come on for the last 20 or 30 mins in games and play himself into form with no pressure. He was good when he came on.
I love Trossard!
oh man – that piece of paper that Anthony Taylor put into Dyche’s nose to prove why he added only 4 minutes nailed it all 😀
No Martinelli no problem!
Hahaha those arabic commentators are hilarious
My remnant qualm with Vieira following his promising sub appearances was whether he could perform so well from the start when the game state hasn’t yet been set, rather than coming in to change a known quantity. When he’s come on as a sub previously most of what he’s been good at has been attacking play and creating threatening moments in a game we’ve been chasing – whereas if you play from the start there’s more responsibility to first set the tone of the game by winning the midfield battle. I know he can find the goalscoring pass (his stats… Read more »
Really good and insightful comment. I thought Vieira was really good too and I just get a vibe from him that something good is going to happen when he gets on the ball. I really like him as a player, if he could develop a little bit more strength we could have a wickedly talented player at our disposal.
Really nice analysis, thank you. I agree with all of that. Once Fabio gets the off the ball stuff down to Mikel’s satisfaction, there’ll be no keeping him out of the team. Just too good on both feet. He has a little bit of explosiveness to his runs this season too, on display when he won the penalty. That stood out for me as soon as he took the pitch against Fulham.
Out of all the teams we’ll play, this is the one that has the least attacking ambition, and that in itself brings pressure. Glad we got that monkey off our backs.
Just imagine if we get 3 wins this week… lift off!
The offensive stodginess wasn’t immediately remedied by the inclusion of Vieira as some thought it might. He put Martinelli in for the “goal” and played well in general, but I hope folks will now understand you can’t pin it all on Kai. The decision making and execution in the penalty area have been consistently underwhelming by the team in general. The fact that we’re still winning maximum points despite that is hugely encouraging, but with such narrow margins, some bad breaks are inevitable. I’m of the mindset that control is more important than offensive output because it allows you to… Read more »
The Brentford keeper a clear upgrade on an English international? Nope. Not even close. The hype on here for this guy is ridiculous. Way to go destroying ramsdale’s confidence. Arteta will rue the tinkering…
Or not, time will tell.
Is there another team who manage so many “accidental” arms and elbows on the heads and faces of the opposition players as Everton, and is there another player who has had as many seriously bizarre VAR decisions against him as Gabi Martinelli? That was a clever and hard fought win, proud of the team and the manager tonight.
The commentators don’t help. Saliba took a flailing forearm to the cheekbone from Beto in the first half and went down holding his face. His head recoils, it was not minor contact. The commentator on my stream didn’t see it and called it “poor” from Saliba because he thought he was faking it. These are the people they pay to interpret games for us. They can’t even see what’s happening properly let alone interpret it. We just get good old boy anecdotes and a whole lot of shrugging of the shoulders. I turn the volume all the way down. It… Read more »
Best to listen to Arsenal online live feed with TV volume down. Neville such a dork!
Going to need to try the volume technique. The pundits make my head hurt and detract from the enjoyment of the game. Not a value add.
Thank you, Arsenal
Everton stood very high on the pitch, but Arsenal rarely played the ball into the huge space behind them (the cancelled Martinelli goal was one exception). This must be improved. Arsenal make too few goals. Despite great players, there is still a lack of mojo.
Hopefully shut the media up now after that statistic has gone. Controlled the game well but we need to score more and kill teams off
Seems like we play possession and control at the start when we need to be more positive yet when we need possession and control to see out the end of a game we struggle to implement it.
Worst of both worlds?
No, we won the game with 78% possession.