MATCH REPORT: Arsenal 4 – 0 Everton

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Arsenal (2) 4 Everton (0) 0

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Wednesday, 1st March 2023. Kick-off time: 7.45pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Kieran Tierney, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Rob Holding, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner.

Scorers: Bukayo Saka (40 mins), Gabriel Martinelli (45+2 mins), Martin Ødegaard (71 mins), Gabriel Martinelli (80 mins)

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 73%

Referee: Michael Oliver

Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett

Fourth Official: David Coote

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Tony Harrington; AVAR James Mainwaring

Attendance: 60,213

For tonight’s match, the medical team will continue to monitor Thomas Partey, who made his comeback from a muscle problem as a substitute in our victory at Leicester last Saturday, and as such, will be on the substitute’s bench this evening. Sadly, Gabriel Jesus and Mohamed Elneny remain sidelined by knee injuries for tonight’s game against the Toffees. Of course, as we know only too well, every match is a “must win”, and this evening’s encounter is no exception, as we desperately need those available three points to place further air between ourselves and Manchester City.

The visitors had the best of the early exchanges, however, as early as a few seconds into the game, when Gabriel caught Amadou Onana whilst he was airborne. Although he got up and carried on, Everton were buoyed up by this innocuous exchange and Neal Maupay had two good chances which were excellently saved by Aaton Ramsdale. We recovered and won two corners in succession, which although went nowhere, the important thing is that we are bringing the game to the opposition. Gabriel Martinelli met a beautiful cross from Bukayo Saka that went wide, which although was offside, it was still a great chance to score. We tried different ways to get through the Everton defence, but our men were narrowly caught offside. Amadou Onana was accidentally caught by Granit Xhaka, and as such play was stopped for a little while by referee Michael Oliver due to the fact that it was a head injury, and after the Everton medical team attended him, and following the usual drop ball that quite naturally went our way, the game resumed after a little while. Abdoulaye Doucoure found Neal Maupay with a ball from the left wing but Gabriel slid in to stop the Everton striker shooting, thankfully, and a couple of minutes later, Jordan Pickford ran off his line to dive at the feet of Gabriel Martinelli, who was running onto a through ball. We look very frustrated tonight, as we are finding it difficult to break down a stubborn Everton defence, despite some sterling work by Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has covered an incredible area of the pitch tonight. However, with five minutes of the first half remaining, Oleksandr Zinchenko found Bukayo Saka in some space within the Everton penalty area and he absolutely thumped the ball over Jordan Pickford and into the roof of the net to open the scoring tonight. As normally happens when a goal is scored, the opposition launch themselves at us, and tonight is no exception, as Neal Maupay flashed a wild shot wide from about twenty yards as Everton looked for a quick equaliser. We composed ourselves and reimposed ourselves on the opposition, and during injury time Bukayo Saka took the ball off Idrissa Gueye, passed the ball through to Gabriel Martinelli, who ran on to it and drove it home to make it two nil to us at the break.

The second half started with Thomas Partey replacing Jorginho, and we started the game in the same spirit as we finished the first. Our captain was brutally chopped down by James Tarkowski, and shortly afterwards, Martin Ødegaard found Bukayo Saka, whose shot was blocked, and then the waiting Leandro Trossard, who did not make firm enough contact with his volley, which went narrowly wide of the post. Aaron Ramsdale parried a strong shot from Dwight McNeil and after a Gabriel Martinelli header that went narrowly wide, referee Michael Oliver booked Ben Godfrey for a foul on Leandro Trossard, who needed treatment from our medical staff. With nineteen minutes of the game remaining, we sealed the match when Leandro Trossard, ran onto a ball down the left wing and cut it back for Martin Ødegaard, who simply and elegantly swept the ball into the back of the Everton net with a first-time effort from twelve yards, via a slight deflection. Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira replaced Leandro Trossard and Granit Xhaka with about fifteen minutes of the game remaining. The third goal did wonders for our confidence, and game management suddenly became the order of the day which left Everton chasing the match forlornly. Eddie Nketiah almost made it four nil but his shot was saved by Jordan Pickford and Fabio Vieira blasted it over the bar with the rebound. However, with ten minutes of the game remaining, Oleksandr Zinchenko played the ball through to Eddie Nketiah, who pulled it back to Gabriel Martinelli, who scored quite easily from close range. This fourth goal utterly destroyed Everton, who look thoroughly dejected and demoralised, and simply cannot wait for the final whistle, which mercifully (for them) came without the humiliation of leaking a fifth goal.

This superb victory tonight keeps us five points ahead of Manchester City, going into the Bournemouth game on Saturday afternoon. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were outstanding tonight, as was Oleksandr Zinchenko, but overall it was an incredible team effort this evening. Although the first half was patchy at times, our second half performance was exemplary, and was a fine example of how great we can be when all cylinders are firing, which tonight was certainly the case. Keep going chaps.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: AFC Bournemouth at the Emirates on Saturday, 4th March at 3.00pm(Premier League). Be there, if you can. 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

Graham needs to keep Mikel Arteta’s name out of his mouth

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Mikel Arteta has become the poster boy for owners “sticking with a manager”.

The most recent Head Coach to use Arteta as justification for remaining in their job is Graham Potter.

The Chelsea man rolled out the yarn that “two years into Mikel [Arteta’s] reign he was close to getting the sack”. At no point was Arteta close to the sack at Arsenal.

Arsenal’s ownership knew that in Arteta they had the right man, and it was just a case of needing a few transfer windows to ship out the old and bring in the new.

There have been plenty of media pundits that have also tried to compare Arteta’s early reign to Potter.

To start with, Arsenal was Mikel Arteta’s first job, whilst Graham Potter had managed for over 400 games. 135 of those matches were for Premier League side Brighton.

Chelsea were reigning “Club World Champions” when Potter took over. They had also won the Champions League just 15 months before. Arsenal meanwhile Arsenal’s only trophy in the previous 2 seasons was the Community Shield.

Potter took over a side who had made the FA Cup and League Cup final the year before and had just finished 3rd.

Arteta’s Arsenal had made (and lost) the Europa League final the previous season, with Unai Emery leaving us in 5th.

Both men’s first transfer window was January.

Arsenal spent £0 on permanent transfers, with just Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares joining on loan. Both came with loan fees and agreed to join permanently in the summer.

Chelsea meanwhile spent £285.7m on 7 players. They also bought in Joao Felix on loan.

To bring the figure Chelsea spent into perspective, under Mikel Arteta Arsenal have spent £315m across 6 transfer windows. Potter’s Chelsea have spent £30m less in just a single window.

Potter not only took over a team that had been much better in recent years than Arteta, but also superior in the season he took over.

Under Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea had won 5 of their previous 10 games. 50% win ratio.

Unai Emery and Freddie Ljungberg led Arsenal to just 2 wins in the 10 games before Arteta took over. A win ratio of just 20%.

When Potter came into Chelsea, they were 6th. Arsenal were 10th.

Arsenal were also on course to get just 49 points based on our points per game. Chelsea, under Tuchel, were on course to get 63 points.

Their post-taking over form changed dramatically.

Arteta’s PPG from when he took over on 20 December to the end of the season increased to 1.62 points. Had Arsenal averaged that over 38 games, they would have got 62 points. An increase of 13 points against how Arsenal were performing before he came in.

Tuchel’s Chelsea were averaging 1.66 PPG and on course for 63 points. Under Potter, they have averaged 1.16 PPG, the 38 game equivalent of just 44 points.

Arteta also won the FA Cup in his first season with Arsenal, beating Manchester City and Chelsea in the semi-final and final.

Chelsea were knocked out of both the Champions League and League Cup in the 3rd round and are currently behind in their Round of 16 Champions League tie.

So Arteta came into an Arsenal team that was worse, spent less, improved the team and won a trophy.

Potter came into a Chelsea team that was better, spent a lot, lot more, made the team worse and will likely finish the season trophyless.

If Chelsea do not lift a trophy this season, it will be the first year they have failed to win anything since 2013–14. They have also only once failed to make a final (or finish 2nd) since 2003.

It is not all Potter’s fault. Their owners have muddied the waters through buying so many players.

They are the equivalent of a wife sending her husband out do the Christmas dinner shopping. Despite spending £250 he does not come back with the turkey or potatoes but brings back lots of Bailey’s. That no one drinks.

Potter comparing his position to Arteta ludicrous. The situation both walked into could not have been any different.

Arteta did so much in that first 5 months which earned him the time when he had a sticky patch in early 2020/21. All Potter has done is take Chelsea backwards. And I love it.

Keenos

Arsenal duo impress on loan

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Players need to play football.

It is unreasonable to expect a player come in for 1 game a month and put in a consistent, high level performance. Most players usually need regular game time to get up to speed, get in their grove.

And game time is even more important for young players.

Over the years I have lost count on the amount of players that have failed to transition from highly rated youngster into top senior pro. The often fail to progress due to a lack of game time.

I was always a bit reluctant to go to heavy on the crticism of Albert Sambi Lokonga.

Prior to joining us, Lokonga had been playing week week out in the Belgium Pro League, almost always playing 90 minutes. Consistent play time saw him grow into one of the most talented young midfielders in Europe.

He then joined Arsenal.

In his first 6 months at the club, he played fairly regularly. Lokonga played 13 of the first 13 league games of the 2021/22 season, starting 9.

He looked a good player. A decent signing. The talent was their even if he was still raw. Then the game time dried up.

Of the next 15 league games, he played 9 minutes against Southampton and made a single start against Burnley. He would make a further 2 starts in the final 10 league games of the season, starting twice.

With us not in Europe and out of the FA Cup early, his game time was severely restricted in the 2nd half of the season. Only really coming when Thomas Partey picked up an injury.

This season the trend continued.

He started just two league game’s, and made further cameo appearances of 1, 2, 12 and 17 minutes. There was just no consistency and it is no surprise he began to go backwards as a player.

He has also been trying to learn new(ish) position.

For most of his time in Belgium, he played as an 8, with the freedom to drift forward and influence the game knowing he had someone else behind him.

When he was asked to play deeper, it was usually as a 2 man defensive midfield.

For Arsenal, he was being asked to play as a single pivot defensive midfielder. Doing all the work and allowing others to thrive going forward.

It is one of those positions that you grow into during a career, and to do so you need game time. Lokonga has not hasd that.

Now before some people start the “Arteta can not develop young players” BS, Lokonga has been kept out of the team by Partey; the Ghanaian has been the best defensive midfielder in the league this season.

Arsenal are in a title race this season and Arteta could not afford to try and develop someone so raw.

Everytime Lokonga played, he looked confused. Like he did not know how to play football. But that had to be expected due to how little football he played and not having a “senior pro” next to him to talk his way through.

At that single defensive midfielder, he had to do the job himself. Whereas he probably would have thrived in a 2-man defensive midfield alongside someone like Jorginho.

The loan move to Crystal Palace was a big one for him.

At 23, I felt a a “development loan” might have passed him by. But then you also had to remember that at 23 Yaya Toure was still playing in Greece.

Crystal Palace have eased him into the first team. A few minutes off the bench on debut, followed by more minutes off the bench in his second game. A start and an hour of game time in his 3rd game before completing 90 minutes.

It is a commonly used method for integratting a new player into the first team.

His performance against Liverpool drew huge praise from Palace fans, who demanded their owners to “pay Arsenal what they want” for Lokonga.

He is already benefiting from that bit more consistent play time, at a lower stress level.

Another huge benefit is Palace play with a 2, meaning that he only needs to focus on covering his half of the pitch. The impressive Cheick Doucouré does the job on the other side.

I would now expect Lokonga to play consistently alongside Doucouré between now and the end of the season, and we will see him grow as a result.

The question is then what do we do with him on his return?

With a defensive midfielder top of the list, Lokonga could be relegated to 3rd choice (unless we sell Partey). This could be 4th choice if we also include Jorginho. Lokonga would be back to “hardly playing” and, at the age of 24, at risk of his career going the same way as Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

I look forward to watching Lokonga progressing at Palace.

There has always been a good player there and he will either return to us ready and hungry to fight it out, or we should be able to sell him for a profit

Another Arsenal man that played well on loan at the weekend was Marquinhos.

The Brazilian falls under the category of “quality young player, needs game time”.

Not every player can be Bukayo Saka – burst o nthe scene as a teenager and remain there.

For many, between the ages of 18 and 21 it is all about getting game time and proving yourself. That is usually out on loan.

Emile Smith Rowe grew from talented kid to Arsenal first team squad ready during a loan spell at Huddersfield Town. Charlie Patino is showing similar signs whilst on loan at Blackpool.

At the weekend, Marquinhos scored and assists as Norwich City beat Cardiff City 2-0.

It was an impressive debut for the teenager.

Whilst I will not go OTT over him – he did not play the previous 5 games for Norwich as they bought him up to fitness – it is impossible to not stand up and take note when a player has that sort of debut.

It is the second time this season he has scored and assisted on debut – having also achieved it for Arsenal against FC Zurich in the Europa League.

Marquinhos has played just a sinlge minute of Premier League football for us. He started twice in the Europa League and once in the League Cup.

He showed his talent in a few games in the Premier League 2, with 4 goals and 2 assists in 5 appearances.

Quite clearly too good for that level, but not yet good enough to come in for Saka, it was a good decision to send him out on loan for the second half of the season. It is now up to him.

If he stars in the Championship, Edu and his team might decide that a new right winger is not needed. That a combination of Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Smith Rowe and Marquinhos is more than enough attacking wide options.

Being left footed, Marquinhos would then be in a position to be Saka’s like for like replacement.

There is still a long way to go for him, and we should not get to oexcited after a single performance. But like with Lokonga there is a player there. And unlike Lokonga, he plays in a position where we are desperate to make a signing.

Can I see Marquinhos being Saka’s understudy next year? Yes.

It would be good to keep an eye on Lokonga and Marquinhos as the season progresses and I hope both players continue the level of performance they showed at the weekend.

Their progression will be a positive for Arsenal, even if that does result in us maximising their transfer value and cashing in!

Keenos