Arsenal (1) 2 Everton (1) 1
Premier League
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Sunday, 19th May 2024. Kick-off time: 4.00pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Gabriel Magalhães, Ben White, William Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu; Thomas Partey, Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice; Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith-Rowe, Jurrien Timber, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Scorers: Takehiro Tomiyasu (41 mins), Kai Havertz (88 mins)
Yellow Cards: Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 69%
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt, Dan Cook
Fourth Official: Josh Smith
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Stuart Attwell; AVAR Nick Greenhalgh
Attendance: c.60,000
And so the final day of the season has arrived for us all at last. By the end of the ninety minutes we will all know whether Manchester City have fallen on their sword courtesy of West Ham United or not, and ultimately, one way or another, our fate will be sealed. But hey, what a season we have all had!
With the absence of Bukayo Saka today due to injury, there is still a fantastic party atmosphere here at the Emirates this afternoon, in which we started proceedings today for the last time this season.
In the early stages of this game, we were dominating matters with accurate passing and clever play. A superb cross by Declan Rice found the head of Takehiro Tomiyasu but it went wide of the target.
The match started to quieten down and although we had domination, the visitors still managed to sneak in and grab a half chance, which was cleared adequately by David Raya.
Martin Ødegaard slotted the ball to Declan Rice, who managed to get a left-footed shot in, which was somehow saved by Jordan Pickford, and then Gabriel Martinelli’s right-footed shot from the right side of the penalty area was saved again by the Everton goalie in the centre of the goal.
After a slight delay due to an injury to Idrissa Gueye the match continued with pressure from our team, and it has to be said that frustration appears to be creeping in, as early as the twentieth minute here.
A sublime pass from William Saliba found Kai Havertz, who did very well to hold up the ball before cutting inside to push it onto his left foot; he tried a clever reverse shot in order to try beat Jordan Pickford, but the shot was blocked by an Everton defender.
Unbelievably, Dominic Calvert-Lewin managed to hit the post with a right-footed shot, which was an incredible let-off for us at this point of the proceedings.
Just after the half-hour, both Kai Havertz and Gabriel came close to scoring, but unfortunately their shots were blocked by an alert Everton defence.
Five minutes before the break, the unthinkable happened when we went a goal down because of a free-kick by Idrissa Gueye which ricocheted from Declan Rice’s head and beat David Raya and simply flew into the top right-hand corner of the net.
A minute or so later, we scored the equaliser when our captain passed the ball to Takehiro Tomiyasu who beautifully whacked the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
During the seven minutes injury time, we continued with the pressure, with the best effort being when Martin Ødegaard passed the ball to Thomas Partey who blasted the ball over the bar. Either way, the first half finished honours even here at the Emirates.
Everton kicked off the most important second half of the season, and within a minute of the restart, we won the ball and started to put pressure on the Everton goal, culminating in a header from Kai Havertz which went just wide of Jordan Pickford’s post.
Kai Havertz was fouled by James Tarkowski who received a yellow card for his trouble, and shortly afterwards Abdoulaye Doucouré also received a yellow card for his foul on Gabriel; unfortunately, Gabriel was unable to continue as he had incurred a shoulder injury, so Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced him just before the hour mark.
A blistering shot from Dominic Calvert-Lewin was saved superbly well by David Raya and at the other end, a Jarrad Braithwaite header from Martin Ødegaard’s corner only got as far as Declan Rice, who hit a powerful shot over the Everton crossbar.
Shortly afterwards, a superb Gabriel Martinelli cross found the head of Kai Havertz, whose header bounced off the crossbar.
Emile Smith-Rowe and Jurrien Timber replaced Thomas Partey and Ben White with twenty minutes of the match remaining, and we continued trying to score a goal desperately as Leandro Trossard’s cut-back pass found Martin Ødegaard, who took a touch before shooting for goal from just outside the Everton six-yard box, but there were defenders everywhere and his effort went back into general play.
Leandro Trossard was replaced by Gabriel Jesus with twelve minutes of normal time remaining in order to grab goals, and patiently we moved forward with effort and desire.
Emile Smith-Rowe, after receiving a great cross from Gabriel Martinelli, hit the crossbar with a downward shot that bounced up and struck it with some force.
A clever shot from Gabriel Jesus was blocked by a defender that went out of play for a corner kick, and with two minutes left on the clock, we finally got the goal that we were looking for when Kai Havertz got the ball in the back of the net after a clever pass from our captain. However, there was a VAR check as it was thought there was a hand-ball from Gabriel Jesus on the build-up, but fortunately the goal was given by referee Michael Oliver.
In the five minutes injury time awarded, despite our best efforts, news came in that Manchester City had defeated West Ham United by three goals to one, and although every man did their very, very best that they could, second place in the Premiership for the season 2023-24 became our fate.
With eighty-nine points from thirty-eight matches, our boys finished just two points behind champions Manchester City. Yes, we deserved better of course, but overall we should be very proud of this season as we have progressed beyond all expectations.
We did poorly in the domestic cup competitions of course, but finishing runners-up in the Premiership and quarter-finalists in the Champions League is absolutely no disgrace. We are all so very proud of you all, and who knows what will happen next season? This could be a springboard for so much more. Well done, chaps!
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, stick with the winners. Have a great summer everyone, see you again in August! Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Cheers for match reports this season mate. Enjoyed reading them.
I remember commenting on here a few years ago and saying that Arteta was doing a really good job but we had no chance of winning the league whilst Guardiola & Klopp were about. Back then, I just hoped that we could position ourselves to become the best of the rest and take advantage when the two of them left.
I cannot believe how far we`ve come over the past couple of years, the improvements we`ve made in every area has staggered me. Another summer window similar to the last one and I think we`ll win it next year.
Klopp going leaves us and City are miles ahead of the competition in my opinion.
It always leaves a sour taste in the mouth to finish runners-up to City because everyone knows they`re a load of cheating cunts but it is what it is. Until the PL do something about it, we`ve just got to get on with it and try to keep moving forward.
Once again, thanks for the reports.
Up The Arse.
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