3 Reasons why Arsenal lost 0-1 to Everton
Everton beat Arsenal 1-0 in a Premier League match at the Goodison Park today. It was Arsenal’s 7th defeat in the league this season and they are now at the 4th position in the league table with 63 points in 32 matches. The Gunners, alongside the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester United will fight for the two remaining places in the top 4, as Liverpool and Manchester City are assured of the top two spots.
Phil Jagielka scored the winner for Everton in the 10th minute, as the Toffees notched up their 13th victory in the league. They are now at the 9th position on the league table with 46 points from 33 matches. Everton have now beaten both Arsenal and Chelsea in the last month or so, besides drawing with Liverpool.
Having said that, we will now take a look at the 3 primary reasons behind Arsenal’s defeat today:
#1 Insipid performance of the midfielders:
Arsenal started with a 3-5-2 formation, with Sokratis, Nacho Monreal and Skhordan Mustafi starting as the three center-backs, while Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac played as wing-backs. Matteo Guendouzi, Henrik Mkhitaryan and Mohamed Elneny started in the midfield, and Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette played as the two forwards.
However, the Arsenal midfield struggled to cope with their Everton counterparts. Andre Gomes, Idrissa Gana, Richarlison and Bernard dominated the proceedings in the midfield with their timely interceptions and astute passing and did not allow Arsenal to play their free-flowing football.
Arsenal missed the presence of Granit Xhaka in their midfield and struggled to win back possession in the middle of the pitch. Elneny had a very ordinary first half and had to be substituted after the half time. As a result, there was not enough supply of balls to the forwards, and the link-up play was almost absent.
Arsenal needed at least one of their midfielders to play box-to-box, but none of them could do so. On the other hand, Andre Gomes had a fantastic match for Everton and played box-to-box. The former Barcelona player, who is on loan at Everton, was almost omnipresent on the pitch and remained the mainstay in Everton’s midfield. It was his 25th appearance for the club, and one should not wonder if he moves to a bigger club next season.