Stanchion and Ollie

Arsenal 1-1 Everton

It’s always a bit frustrating to score late but concede even later (we used to be quite adept at that – it was an unwelcome feather in our former defensive hat), especially when it feels like something we’ve not done an awful lot of lately. But as fair points go, I’d say this was one, with Everton far the better team in the first half.

I’m not sure we ever quite got going, at least not until about the 39th minute, though again that might be because Everton came right at us from the off. There might not have been a lot of goalmouth danger but there were wayward passes and we were being hustled off the ball a lot. Howard made a decent save from Giroud, there was some leniency from the ref (I won’t name names, but one culprit is not a million miles from being called Barry Gareth), while at our end there were a few moments, though Szczesny didn’t get his gloves overly dirty. Everton though were very fast and direct, shut us down very fast and didn’t let us get into our groove at all.

We woke up in the second half and you have to say it was a right ding-dong, to use the technical term. Flamini flashed one wide, Ramsey’s half-volley was pushed away, Szczesny leapt to his left like a salmon. Howard started dawdling in slow-motion, which earned him a yellow card and was an indication that Everton’s high tempo had slowed while ours had edged a notch up. In the end, Wenger’s triple substitution (you old devil Arsene!) had an effect with Rosicky passing to aerial lynchpin Theo Walcott who zapped it across the goal to Ozil via Giroud.

Ok, so the lead didn’t last, but Gerard “Gerry” Deulofeu’s shot was such a pacemaker it almost ferried across the Mersey.*

And then there was the tireless Giroud who took the ball down about 35 yards out and clonked it like a mallet. The goalposts would’ve broken had they not been supported by the stanchion but it wasn’t to be. And 1-1 it remained.

We’ve played better, and Wenger was right to bring Ramsey, Wilshere and Cazorla off when he did. But we played well enough in the second half against an opposition with a great defensive record and its tail up. No qualms from me, really. (Possession was 44% – 56% – people with better brains and access to large volumes of data will be able to read more into that but it feels a bit lopsided for a home game).

Tired legs and minds now need fixing for parts two and three of our testing week. There really is no rest but you know what, we’re five points clear at the top. It’s a hell of a place to be.

*I’m so sorry. It’s a Sunday night, I’m tired.

Jim

Arsenal since about 1979. Thick, thin and all that.

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Jeff

    5 clear at the top is great. Everton were scary good, so I’m glad we got at least a point. Lukaku looked too strong for us.

  2. East Lower

    He looks a great prospect alright

  3. PDDD

    No doubt Everton played really well but if you don’t pick your best team then you open yourself up to the oppo playing like that. Poor Arteta was targetted as our weak link right from the start & simply destroyed by Everton. I actually found it hard to watch. Astonishing to me that Arsene still thinks he’s suited to that position despite all the evidence to the contrary. He stays our no.1 in that position = zero chance of the title.
    Being positive, the two centre halves were superb. Despite Everton dominating midfield for long spells & Lukaku being in amazing form coming into the game, he didn’t have a sniff.

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