How Arteta's Arsenal rotation could be key to Champions League clash vs Real Madrid 

Rested legs should be fresh for acid test Arsenal vs Real Madrid says Ian Mills 

Yet another poor refereeing decision ensures our final visit to Goodison Park ends in stalemate as all eyes turn to a huge Champions League encounter:-

Here are three things that stood out for me as Real Madrid loom tonight 

1 - Rested legs should be fresh for acid test versus Real Madrid

– Mikel Arteta rarely rotates his team quite so emphatically as he did for this game proving where his priorities lay for the rest of the campaign.

Liverpool may be Champions in waiting however it is incumbent on us to ensure that they wait as long as possible.

Yet, after a midweek London derby which featured yet another long-term injury blow, an early kick off and our last ever visit to Everton’s famous old ground – the portents did not look promising for an away win.

Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabi Martinelli and Thomas Partey were all rested as Jurrien Timber made a welcome addition to the bench after his own midweek injury scare.

Jakub Kiwor got the nod alongside Saliba and did well albeit I would prefer to see Ben White partner Saliba on Tuesday.

After a dull opening 35 minutes, the game came to life with Trossard’s well taken opener which threatened to be the matchwinner here for the second season running before Everton’s contentious penalty award.

2 - Another dreadful decision

– When the story of Arsenal’s 2024-25 season is written it will be hard not to mention a catalogue of appalling referring decisions that have gone against us and here was yet another one.

Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jack Harrison got into a tangle outside of the penalty area and MLS had completely lost his balance by the time the Everton man had made his way into the area and took a tumble.

The on-field decision to award a spot kick was bad enough however for VAR to uphold this was nonsensical.

If ever there was a clear and obvious error this was it and yet again all Gooners were left scratching their heads as to why it is only us that end up on the wrong end of so many mistakes by officials.

3 - Our title hopes have been hugely damaged by our ‘death by draws’

– Four points squandered against an average side like Everton is unacceptable for a team vying to be Champions.

This 1-1 scoreline signalled our eleventh draw of the Premier League season. While some of those games have been hugely affected by contentious referring decisions, there has been opportunities in most of them for us to turn one point into three.

As Liverpool cruise to the title, it is these dropped points that will be a huge motivation to Arteta and his staff to ensure the next Premier League campaign does not finish in as underwhelming fashion as this one.