Coach Mikel Arteta’s team was defeated 0-1 by Everton in the 22nd round of the Premier League taking place on the evening of February 4 (Hanoi time).
Before this weekend’s round, Arsenal had only lost one match in the 2022/23 Premier League when they were a guest at Old Trafford in September last year. After 4 months, the new “Gunners” had such a difficult match in the top league of the foggy country.
Everton is no longer a weak team like since the beginning of the season. Coach Sean Dyche immediately made the difference, helping the port city team defend closely and not let Arsenal create too many opportunities. Instead of using the familiar 4-4-2 formation that made the brand at Burnley before, the new Everton coach chose a 4-5-1 formation to focus on controlling the midfield.
Everton’s five-man midfield controlled the way the ball played, also using five players in the center to “strangle” opponents from Arsenal, when Zinchenko-Partey-White joined Xhaka and Odegaard. That is the key for Everton to play fair with Arsenal.
| Arsenal experienced the most difficult match since the beginning of the season at Everton. Image: Archyde.com. |
During the first half of the game, it was the home team that were the better players. Even if the shot was more accurate, the Everton players could have opened the scoring right in the first half. Expected goal index (xG) of the home team after the first 45 minutes reached 1.43, while Arsenal only had 0.13 xG.
The most obvious scoring opportunities belong to the Goodison Park team. Everton are also particularly dangerous in set pieces in this match. The “specialties” of the teams under Dyche are once again re-imagined. It was from a corner in the 61st minute that midfielder James Tarkowski headed the opener for Everton after a corner kick. Tarkowski is also a former student of coach Dyche at Burnley.
The opening goal helped Everton play more excitedly. Their midfield with Abdoulaye Doucoure, Alex Iwobi or Amadou Onana constantly pressed and played hard. Arsenal were almost unable to create clear scoring opportunities. Coach Arteta noticed this, so he brought in Jorginho and Leandro Trossard in the hope of making a difference in the game for the Gunners.
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| Centre-back James Tarkowski made the difference for Everton from a header after a corner. Image: Archyde.com. |
However, these two rookies have not shown much yet. Jorginho occasionally missed passes and was under great pressure from the Everton midfield. Meanwhile, Trossard plays monotonously and is easily caught. Even the Belgian star missed a delicious opportunity to eat at the end of the game.
The 0-1 loss away from home puts Arsenal at risk for Man City to close the gap. The “Gunners” are only 5 points ahead of the Etihad Stadium team in the rankings. With Everton, they temporarily escaped the relegation group and climbed to 17th place on the Premier League table this season.
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