Premier League leaders Arsenal ruthlessly reminded Everton of their position in the table tonight after the Gunners blitzed the Toffees in the second half before ultimately coming away with a consummate 4-0 win at the Emirates stadium, exacting revenge over their 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park mere weeks ago.
The first half-chance of the match fell to Sean Dyche’s men in the 7th minute when Everton did well to break up play before setting off on a counter-attack which could only end in a lazy backheel effort from Neal Maupay after Dwight McNeil’s low cross dribbled its way to the Frenchman.
Both sides settled into a back-and-forth rhythm at each end that amounted to little in the way of chance creation as each lacked any cutting edge in the final third, though Everton held their own comfortably just as they did a few weeks ago at Goodison Park.
Dyche’s Toffees were the better side for much of the half, with their organized two banks of four leaving the Gunners frustrated while looking to break at any chance, and before the 40th minute, Everton were the ones to test Aaron Ramsdale. But then up stepped Bukayo Saka, like so many times before dating back to last season, with a thunderous effort from close range to beat England colleague Jordan Pickford high at the near post after riding the shoulder of the defender before turning into space to latch on to Oleksandr Zinchenko’s expertly threaded pass to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead.
“He just needs to improve his finishing and shooting and it will be over.” https://t.co/snT7uY46hz
— Football Talent Scout – Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) March 1, 2023
It was an advantage Arsenal desperately needed in their bid to set the record straight last time out against Everton, applying a dagger to Everton’s heart as the Toffees looked happy to go into the half-time interval level at nil-nil during what had been a very credible performance.
Things would go from bad to worse in stoppage time when Saka pounced to dispossess Idrissa Gueye in Everton’s third of the pitch to put Gabriel Martinelli one-on-one with Pickford before slotting through the keeper’s legs to double the advantage, with the on-pitch decision to whistle it back for offside being overturned by VAR.
Arteta’s troops moved into the second half at their dominant best despite failing to secure a third goal to put Everton to bed early after both sides emerged from the changing room, but Everton nearly cut the lead in half in the 62nd minute through Dwight McNeil if not for a smart save from Aaron Ramsdale who had little to do up till then.
This is now the most prolific league season of Martin Odegaard’s career. He’s up to nine goals in 24 league appearances.
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) March 1, 2023
Martin Ødegaard popped up in the 71st minute to put the result beyond down while giving Arsenal a deserved 3-0 lead when club captain slotted home from 10 yards out after Leandro Trossard got to the end line before squaring for the Norwegian. Martinelli would then bag his brace nine minutes later after second-half substitute Eddie Nketiah was put into space by Zinchenko for the Brazilian to ultimately tap in after Nketiah squared his ball just outside of Pickford’s reach.
Proceedings would come to a close by the same scoreline as Arsenal reinstituted their five-point cushion over champions Manchester City in a display that once again showed the stuff that the young side was made of amid a pressure-filled title race against the current English hegemon.
As for Everton, they travel back to the blue half of Merseyside still sitting in the bottom three, having now suffered their heaviest Premier League defeat of the season as the new manager bump under Sean Dyche appears to be over.
📰 Table Of Contents
Arsenal Player Ratings
- GK: Aaron Ramsdale – 7.5
- RB: Ben White – 7
- CB: William Saliba – 7
- CB: Gabriel – 7
- LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko – 8
- CM: Jorginho – 6.5
- CM: Granit Xhaka – 7
- CAM: Martin Ødegaard – 8
- RW: Bukayo Saka – 8
- LW: Gabriel Martinelli – 8.5
- ST: Leandro Trossard – 7.5
- Sub: Thomas Partey -7
- Sub: Eddie Nketiah – 7
- Sub: Fábio Vieira – 6.5
- Sub: Emile Smith Rowe – 6
- Sub: Kieran Tierney – 6
Everton Player Ratings
- GK: Jordan Pickford – 5
- RB: Seamus Coleman – 6
- CB: Michael Keane – 5
- CB: James Tarkowski – 6
- LB: Vitaly Mykolenko – 6.5
- DM: Idrissa Gueye – 5
- RM: Alex Iwobi – 6
- CM: Abdoulaye Doucouré – 6
- CM: Amadou Onana – 6
- LM: Dwight McNeil – 7
- ST: Neal Maupay – 6
- Sub: Mason Holgate – 6
- Sub: Demarai Gray – 6
- Sub: Ben Godfrey – 6
- Sub: Tom Davies – 6
Expert Analysis
12 – @Arsenal have named an unchanged XI for the 12th time in the Premier League this season, equalling their most games without a change in a single season in the competition (12 in 1996-97). Stability. pic.twitter.com/h1jFWhY1cP
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 1, 2023
Michael Keane and James Tarkowski start together for the first time since a 2-0 Burnley win against Crystal Palace in April 2017.
Reunited. 🫂 pic.twitter.com/6GfrhwdqW0
— Squawka (@Squawka) March 1, 2023
Michael Keane’s last Premier League start came in Everton’s 1-5 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates last season#ARSEVE
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) March 1, 2023
Bukayo Saka and fouls:
📊 What the data tells us (and doesn’t tell us)
🖐️ How teams try and counter the Arsenal winger’s threat
🧠 What Arteta thinks – and can he try and help with training?➡️ https://t.co/H0mCp4wHco pic.twitter.com/UoM9e6cTkk
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) March 1, 2023
Everton have won 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 in their previous 26 visits to Arsenal. 🤯
[via @JamesGreenInUK]. pic.twitter.com/IRTl2RweOB
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 1, 2023
🗣️ “I think this is a different game now.”
Michael Dawson says Arsenal can’t take anything for granted against Everton but still expects the north Londoners to win tonight. pic.twitter.com/r0IhlURqKX
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 1, 2023
Midway through half and there is a break in play as Onana down injured.
Arteta and Odegaard deep in discussion by dugout. Arsenal struggled to open Everton up so far.
— Simon Collings (@sr_collings) March 1, 2023
Everyone remembers Gabriel’s extremely infrequent errors. So few people bring up the string of occasions where he has saved Arsenal from a probable goal.
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) March 1, 2023
Mykolenko doing a good job on Saka at the moment.
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) March 1, 2023
Gabriel blocks Onana and again it’s arm to the face. Nothing given though and Arsenal fans getting irate.
Saw Doucoure get booked for something similar at weekend…
— Patrick Boyland (@Paddy_Boyland) March 1, 2023
Saka once again replicating Henry’s celebration. A goal the Frenchman would be proud of – and just when Arsenal needed it.
— Simon Collings (@sr_collings) March 1, 2023
That’s a cracking finish from Saka but that goal is all about Zinchenko. It was Zinchenko’s dribbling that opened up the midfield before, then his brilliant pass into Saka. That’s not just an inverted left-back, that’s not a left-back at all.
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) March 1, 2023
Well, well, well. It’s just onside. Saka robs Gueye of possession, Martinelli takes it on and scores. It looked offside at the time, Martinelli thought he probably was judging by his face, but it counts. What an end to what had been a frustrating first 45 minutes.
2-0
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 1, 2023
◎ Folarin Balogun has scored more league goals than any U21 player in Europe’s top five divisions this season
◉ Bukayo Saka has provided more league assists than any U21 player in Europe’s top five divisions this season
Hale End Heroes. 🫶 pic.twitter.com/lZpFl3mcjv
— Squawka (@Squawka) March 1, 2023
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have scored more goals tonight (3) than they had managed in the previous six matches against teams coached by Sean Dyche (2).#ARSEVE
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) March 1, 2023
Fan Reactions
Onana with the first fake head injury of the match. Tick took tick tock… #ARSEVE
— SouthMetroAFC (@SouthMetroAFC) March 1, 2023
Saka really has to learn how to expect and utilize strategic Jorginho passes.
It’s about time.#ARSEVE pic.twitter.com/alekGjAa4k— Wofa Kojo 👑 (@kojo_mufasa) March 1, 2023
Pickford could have been booked already given the amount of time wasting.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) March 1, 2023
The atmosphere at the emirates stadium is amazing
— Egal (@EGTVEgal) March 1, 2023
Yummy assist from Trossard ❤️ pic.twitter.com/wNGfgwIijK
— Arsenal Informer (@ars_informer) March 1, 2023
