Toffees defeat leaves a sour taste: What we learned from Arsenal's defeat to Everton
Toffees defeat leaves a sour taste: What we learned from Arsenal's defeat to Everton in the Premier League as Mikel Arteta starts to feel the heat.
By Adam Le Roux
The mince pies may be taken out the box and the presents might be wrapped but for Arsenal Football Club, Christmas is cancelled.
Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Everton made it just one win in ten Premier League matches for the Gunners, as the Toffees capitalised on weaknesses at the back to take the points.
Mikel Arteta’s side failed to find the net from open play once again at Goodison Park, with Nicolas Pepe scoring from the spot to level the scores midway through the first-half to cancel out Rob Holding’s own goal.
Yerry Mina grabbed the winner on the stroke of halftime for the hosts, as Arsenal’s last Premier League match before Christmas ended in yet another defeat, leaving them marooned in the lower depths of the league standings.
As ever, there was plenty to talk about after the defeat on Merseyside, as the nadir that is 2020 reaches rock-bottom.
Auba injury gives food for thought
It came as something of a surprise to see star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang not in the squad to face Carlo Ancelotti’s side, with the striker ruled out with a calf injury.
It was the first time the 31-year-old had not been involved in a Premier League match this season, and paved the way for a new look front three for the Gunners, with Eddie Nketiah playing down the middle, alongside Pepe and Willian.
Although it was a partnership we haven’t been used to seeing up top, it certainly proved there are plenty more options available to Mikel Arteta than just relying on the former Borussia Dortmund man.
The trio may not have found the net from open play, but that is nothing new for Arsenal at the moment, and the Gunners looked more of a team without him up front, as the reliance on the 2018/19 Golden Boot winner was quickly taken away.
That said, although we haven’t seen it much so far this season, he can so often be the game changer in tight matches such as Saturday’s clash with the Toffees, and Arsenal fans won’t want him to be on the sidelines for long.
Arteta provided an update on his striker after the defeat, which gives the impression that we won’t be seeing him lineup in either of this week’s ties against Manchester City and Chelsea.
“We want him back as quickly as possible,” the Spaniard said. “He has a small strain and he will need a few days. I don’t know if it’s a week or two weeks, it will depend how the injury evolves.”
With Alexandre Lacazette also continuing to start on the substitutes’ bench, it looks as if the Arsenal boss is continuing to search for his preferred starting XI as we approach the halfway point of the season.
It’s hard to say what is more worrying at this point in time; the fact that the team still isn’t settled after 14 Premier League games, or the fact that whatever team is put out, they still struggle to find the net and secure a victory.
Toffees give Gunners set piece problems to chew over
Through this recent bad run of results, it seemed to be the lack of goals up front that was the main issue that needed to be addressed, but recently it’s been problems at the back that have cost them valuable points.
The 1-0 defeat to Burnley earlier in the month saw the Clarets capitalise on a corner to secure the victory at the Emirates, and it was a dead ball situation once again that proved to be the difference between the two sides on Saturday.
Yerry Mina had all the time in the world to glance a header past Bernd Leno to grab the pivotal third goal of the match late in the first-half, which ultimately proved to be the decider.
When you aren’t playing well, you can’t afford to gift the opposition easy goals from set-pieces, and that is exactly what Arsenal did here, and left them chasing the game for the whole of the second period.
And when an opposition player admits that they are targeting an area that they deem to be a frailty, you know it needs to be addressed, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin admitted to after the game.
“We looked at where their weaknesses are at the near post from corners and tried to make it one of our strengths. And thankfully we got a goal from it,” the Everton striker said.
“We knew they would be exposed in that area from set-pieces and Yerry Mina is a massive threat in the air, so if the delivery is on the money and he heads it, chances are he’s going to score.”
It is yet another area that needs to be worked on for the Gunners, especially with crucial matches on the horizon, especially with the trip to set-piece loving Sam Allardyce’s West Brom at the start of the new year.
Fear is holding the Gunners back
It is clear to see that confidence is at an all-time low within the Arsenal dressing room, with the players looking bereft of ideas and scared of making a mistake in possession.
It’s a never-ending spiral that continues to blight the Gunners’ season, with a lack of belief meaning less chances are being created, which drops morale even lower, and so on and so on…
It is a year to the day that Mikel Arteta took over the football club, and things haven’t looked much darker for decades, with the reality of a relegation battle starting to sink in.
There is often an arrogance about Arsenal fans that believe their side is too good to be where they are in the division, but it’s time to face facts, the Gunners lie just four points above the relegation zone and need to start looking over their shoulder.
It isn’t through a lack of effort that the goals and results aren’t coming, it is sheerly a lack of quality, but games aren’t decided by who tries hardest and runs the furthest, they’re decided by goals, which aren’t something we’ve seen too much of this year.
Arteta even admitted he is starting to feel the heat in the Arsenal hot-seat, but remains focused on the task at hand, despite all the doom and gloom surrounding his side at the moment.
“It’s a really complicated situation, but I am very encouraged from what I see from the players to try and continue doing what we are trying to do with things that of course we have to improve,” the Spaniard said.
“But as well I think we’ve been very, very unlucky not to pick up many, many more points My energy and my focus is only on getting the team out of that situation, maintaining the spirit of the team.
“The fight that the boys show every time they go on the pitch and the energy the boys show on the pitch. You can see that, you cannot deny that.
“Obviously we are against the results, it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough for the standards of this football club and this is the challenge.”
With Frank Lampard’s Chelsea the visitors to the Emirates on Boxing Day, things don’t get much easier for the Gunners over the festive period, with the winless run seemingly never set to end.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
