Gunners prove too strong for Everton

Everton 0-2 Arsenal

Arsenal finally returned to winning ways on Saturday with a very comfortable away win against Everton to keep their very slim title hopes alive.

After weeks and weeks of below par performances, the Gunners were in desperate need of an improved display and got just that.

On paper playing against Everton, away from home, in the early morning kick-off the Saturday after a hard night’s work away to Barcelona on Wednesday night, was going to be a very tall order. However in truth, Everton were probably the best side for Arsenal to face in the Premier League.

Arsene Wenger’s side have struggled greatly to produce moments of creativity in the final third and open up opposition defences. The reason behind this is the fact that most teams have identified the fact that without space and time, the Gunners quickly run out of ideas and especially when they have Giroud up front, end up passing the ball square and backwards, playing in front of the opposition and creating very little.

Everton under Roberto Martinez are a side that are very very open. They like to play the ball out from the back and seek to play a passing, possession based game with plenty of players getting forward to support the attack. However this leaves them susceptible to the counter attack and as they allow the opposition so much space, the likes of Mesut Ozil must have been licking their lips at the prospect of facing the toffees.

As Arsene Wenger elected to deploy Danny Welbeck up front, the Gunners also had more options going forward as the Englishman provides so much more than Giroud. Welbeck matches the Frenchman’s ability to hold up the ball and bring his teammates into the game as well as the energy to chase down the ball and apply pressure to the opposition defence when they are attempting to play the ball out from the back. However while Giroud does not have the pace to threaten the defence with runs in behind them, Welbeck’s pace means he can do exactly that. This leaves the opposition in a constant dilemma as they are never sure whether Welbeck will be attempting to hold the ball up or trying to run off the back of the last defender. As a result the opposition cannot push up, as they do against Giroud and if they sit deep, Welbeck’s clever movement means he can play neat one-twos on the edge of the box and break clear through on goal.

Arsenal’s first goal of the game on Saturday was beautiful in its conception. The Gunners passed the ball patiently amongst themselves until they found the right time to pounce with brilliant one touch, pass and move football opening up the Everton defence brilliantly. Ozil and Sanchez were involved in the build up play before the Chilean spotting Welbeck’s clever movement off the last defender and played a perfectly weighted through ball into his path. Welbeck showed great composure as the goalkeeper came off his line, to keep his first touch light enough to keep control of the ball and take the goalkeeper out of the game at the same time, enabling him to tap the ball home, into an empty net.

It was an early goal which set the game up perfectly for the Gunners. They could now sit back defend well and hit Everton on the break, exploiting the space that the home side would afford them. In order for these tactics to work Arsenal’s defence had to keep the prolific Romelu Lukaku quiet and they managed to do just that thanks to a wonderful performance from Gabriel. The Brazilian got off to shaky start but grew in stature and confidence as the match wore on. Gabriel is a man born to be a defender. He loves a tackle and loves a duel as much as strikers love to score goals. Every time Lukaku tried to intimidate him physically, Gabriel was equal to it and gave as good as he got, coming out on top in every single challenge. It was reminiscent of Sol Campbell at his best and should give the Brazilian great confidence as he seeks to hold onto his first team place.

Ahead of Gabriel, Mohammed Elneny was once again deployed alongside Coquelin as a deep lying midfielder and was also crucial to the victory. The Egyptian has performed extremely well during the last few games and continued his fine form with another all action display, showing indefatigable energy to hunt the ball down throughout the entire 90 minutes and maintaining possession, having won the ball back. Elneny and Coquelin worked brilliantly as a partnership to protect the back four and provided the team with the platform to hit Everton on the break.

Arsenal’s second goal of the game arrived just before half time and it was as a result of a brilliant counter attacking move, started and finished by the precocious Alex Iwobi. The youngster started at the Nou Camp and didn’t look out of place at all as he performed with the confidence and fearlessness of youth. Wenger clearly liked what he saw against Barcelona, handed Iwobi another start against Everton and wasn’t disappointed. Iwobi chased the ball down at every opportunity, had the confidence to display the skills at his disposal and the strength to hold off the opposition. All three qualities helped him to score his first senior goal for the Gunners. Having won back possession deep inside the Arseal half, Iwobi spotted the opportunity for a counter attack and took it, tearing forward into the Everton half and calling for the ball. Hector Berllerin spotted the run and played a perfect ball over the top and into his path. Iwobi took one touch, held off the defender and calmly tucked the ball under the onrushing Robels to give Arsenal a two goal lead. It was exactly what Iwobi’s excellent performance deserved.

The Gunners may be back to winning ways, but will face far sterner tests in the weeks to come as they will not face another side as willing to give them space as Everton were on Saturday. Arsenal are still 11 points behind Leicester and their title challenges therefore remain very remote. Their task until the end of the season is now simple. The Gunners have to continue winning in order to have any hope of winning the title. Any dropped points from now on will be a disaster.