Arsenal travel to Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime to face Everton, looking to pick up three points that would salvage some hope for their Premier League title chances – any other result and they virtually gift the race to Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
The 3-1 loss to Barcelona on Wednesday night was not a disaster in the slightest – in fact, it was the most fluid Arsenal have looked in a long while. The link up play between Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi was excellent, while Alexis Sanchez looked back to form on the right wing. Mohame Elneny was perhaps the biggest positive of the night, his dynamism and of course, fantastic goal, should secure his spot in the double pivot for the rest of the season. The defensive play was mostly last ditch stuff, but this was always going to be a fixture of who could take their chances, and unfortunately, of Arsenal’s 20 attempts on goal, they could only convert the one. Barcelona did not outclass the north London side at all, rather, they showed their attacking verve and took their chances.
Everton should provide an easier fixture, but as we have seen with the easiest fixtures at home, Arsenal don’t like to be conventional. Everton are coming off the back of an efficient 2-0 performance against Chelsea in which Romelu Lukaku bullied the defence – and with Gabriel, Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker all out of sorts, we may expect the same this weekend, meaning Francis Coquelin and Elneny will need to drop deeper and pay special attention to the Belgian. The form of Aaron Lennon will also be encouraging to Everton, and Nacho Monreal will need to keep an eye on the former Tottenham man.
One player Arsenal should watch out for is of course, Lukaku. 19 Premier League goals this season shows how he has been Everton’s main man, often creating, as we saw last weekend, a goal out of nothing. His pure power and skill needs to be suppressed, hopefully by the double pivot of Coquelin and Elneny.
Arsenal’s most dangerous player may be Elneny – a box to box midfielder rather than a traditional holder, he got into several good shooting positions against Barcelona and Watford, and having got his first Arsenal goal at the Camp Nou, he may be further encouraged to foray forward.
Match facts
– Lukaku’s 19 Premier League goals places him as Everton’s top scorer, compared to Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud, who has 12 goals.
– Everton have lost their last two league games at home.
– Arsenal have conceded seven goals in the last three league games.
Team news
– Arsenal’s only fresh injury from their last game was Mathieu Flamini, who will be out with a hamstring injury. The Gunners will still be without Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Petr Cech, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
– Kevin Mirallas and Gareth Barry are suspended for the match, while Bryan Oviedo is a doubt.
Predicted XI
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Elneny; Campbell, Ozil, Alexis; Giroud.
Everton (4-2-3-1): Robles, Coleman, Funes Mori, Jagielka, Baines; Besic, McCarthy; Lennon, Barkley, Cleverley; Lukaku
