5 Arsenal players who underperformed against Everton | Premier League 2021-22
Determined to return to winning ways, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal made the trip to Merseyside for their clash against Everton in the Premier League on Monday.
The Gunners were condemned to a 3-2 defeat by Manchester United in their last outing and needed a win to keep their top-four hopes alive.
Unfortunately, a spirited Everton were in no mood to give them a free ride as they came from behind to bag a 2-1 win at home.
Everton’s Brazilian striker Richarlison rippled the netting in the 44th minute as he headed home from a free-kick. Unfortunately for the home supporters, he was at least a yard offside and saw his goal ruled out by the VAR.
Buoyed by the lifeline, Arsenal stormed into the Everton box a couple of minutes later and got the opener through Martin Odegaard. Kieran Tierney’s delivery into the box was exquisite and Odegaard, too, made no mistake converting from a first-time volley.
Everton kept pushing for an equalizer in the second half and saw another of Richarlison’s strikes get ruled out for offside. Finally, in the 79th minute, the Brazilian broke the voodoo with his third strike, heading in Demarai Gray’s rebound.
The next 11 minutes saw the two teams exchange blows, but the hosts simply had a little extra in their tank. Gray cut inside and unleashed a lethal strike from 20 yards to leave Aaron Ramsdale dumbfounded. The scintillating goal saw Everton bag their first win in eight matches and Arsenal go down for the third time in four matches.
Here are five Arsenal players who were massively at fault for the upset at Goodison:
#5 Gabriel Magalhaes
Arsenal centre-back Gabriel endured another frustrating Premier League outing on Monday night. His passing lacked incisiveness and he could not command the box as well as he was expected to.
This is poor distribution from the back by Gabriel, straight to Gray and putting Arsenal under pressure. https://t.co/txKfQyLd3E
Gabriel also made only three clearances and was dispossessed a total of eight times in the match. All in all, a poor defensive display by the 23-year-old.
#4 Ben White
While Gabriel struggled with his distribution, Ben White was left frustrated with the lack of forward runs by Arsenal attackers.
He often took a couple of extra touches while clearing the ball, which invited unnecessary pressure.
Don't understand why Ben White stepped back in the build up to that goal. It looked like he could block Doucoure before he got the pass away. Another let off for Arsenal.
White was also shaky on a couple of occasions and made the wrong call to drop deeper for Richarlison’s second strike.
Fortunately, the VAR ruled out the goal, saving the Arsenal centre-back’s blushes.