Kevin Whitcher
One thing I think we have to take a great deal of pleasure in that has developed in recent weeks. In spite of some highly worrying situations that develop due to the style Unai Emery is trying to impose on his players, Arsenal have developed a winning habit. To win whatever the circumstances is certainly a desirable ability. And let’s be fair on Everton here, they could easily have won yesterday’s match, were their finishing better, and were a keeper of lesser talent than Petr Cech been charged with keeping them at bay.
The Arsenal captain was the unquestioned man of the match, pulling off a number of excellent saves when Everton had broken through the Gunners’ backline. Way back when, John Terry stated that Cech could be worth 10 – 15 points a season for Arsenal, after his move across London had been confirmed. The display against Marco Silva’s side was evidence of that.
Even his distribution seemed to improve. No really mad moments, although it was interesting to see him come and intercept the ball near the touchline as the game wound down. No nonsense, no attempt to find a team-mate. Just put it out for a throw and run back into his goal. The player that was guilty of losing possession in dangerous areas yesterday was Granit Xhaka. I was hoping for better things after a very decent performance at Newcastle, but it was not to be. He was partnered by Lucas Torreira, who finally got his first Premier League start. The Uruguayan was spiky and always looking to get involved, whether his team had the ball or not. He received an early booking, but managed to keep enough discipline to avoid a second.
Everton were by far the better team in the first half, as Arsenal struggled to fashion many chances. It does not seem to be an unusual story lately. Whatever Emery is saying in the dressing room at half-time does seem to have a positive effect. In spite of doubtless having the opposition scouted, it may be that he actually needs to see his players face them for 45 minutes before working out exactly what is the best approach. If that’s the case, at least it augurs well for the second half of the season.
Arsenal had a run of eight league matches between facing Chelsea away and Liverpool at home. They have won the first four, and the ones remaining are Watford (home), Fulham (away), Leicester (home) and Palace (away). It will be difficult to take 12 points from these matches, not the two away ones, but if Emery can get his defence a bit tighter, they have a chance. To get back in the top four, they really do need to try and ensure they win the majority of the matches against the teams outside of the obvious top six. Up to now, I’d say it’s been a case of getting away with it more often than not, although at least a clean sheet was recorded against Everton. The presence of Torreira from the start in achieving this was less of a factor than the brilliance of Cech.
There was fortune too, in the award of the second goal, which although a little chaotic, was definitely offside. Still, the fixture list did not hand any luck to Arsenal’s new head coach with his opening two matches, so maybe he is due a little. It deflated Everton sufficiently to allow the game to wind down without serious fear of a late comeback. Let’s hope the recent success can continue against Marco Silva’s previous team next weekend, before which we’ll see a mix and match side in the League Cup v Brentford.
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