Everton 1 Arsenal 0: Here are 3 things we learned from the game
Arsenal had the chance of jumping a position while going 2 points clear off Tottenham to the 3rd position in the League table but failed, courtesy of a defeat in the hands of Everton. Unai Emery made two changes from the side that won at Newcastle last week as Elneny and Mkhitaryan started for Ramsey and Iwobi respectively. The Merseyside club welcomed their long gone leader Phil Jagielka who scored right at the 10th-minute mark from the face of the goal after Arsenal failed to clear a long throw-in delivered by Lucas Digne.
The London club had a really good record against the Merseyside club coming into this game. Arsenal has won more games against Everton than any other club in the Premier League era.
Arsenal has struggled this season when it comes to their defence and things get worse when talking about the defence on the road. Arsenal is the only club in this season of the Premier League which has not been able to keep a single clean sheet away from their home. If you look at this record, you'll find how shabby and poor Arsenal's defence has been this season.
#3 Arsenal's poor defensive performance continues
Arsenal was ineffective in the whole game and created no real danger for the opposite goalkeeper. They struggled to find a driving pace for the attack throughout the game even after having the likes of Lacazette and Ozil in the squad. Ozil lacked the drive too and was seen a bit lose on the ball at times. Elneny and Gendouzi were never a real threat on the attack whereas Mkhitaryan was showing signs of danger in the midfield but the team could not use any of his ability.
Arsenal has been incredibly poor defensively which can be analyzed in the horrifying stats below throughout the season:
Clean sheet Arsenal has only 7 clean sheets in 32 league games this season and ranks 11th tieing up with 6 other sides including Manchester United.
Clearances: Arsenal have 667 ball clearances to their name and ranks 15th in this department just above Spurs who have 666 clearances to their name.
Tackles: Arsenal have tackled 536 times and ranks 12th overall.
The Gunners have conceded 40 goals already this season with an average of 1.25 goals per game. The only category in which they score well are goalkeeper saves, Leno making 83 and Petr Cech making 28 which equates to 111 saves in total, ranking 5th amongst all the other clubs.
If Arsenal wants to continue with their ambition of the top 4 as well as the Europa League, they would have to work on solving their defensive issues.