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Everton at least finally got an xG reading as a result of their second-half efforts. Zero at half-time, it rose to 0.2 by the end of the game. Arsenal finished on 1.81.
Bukayo Saka, named Player of the Match, speaks to Sky. “They made it really tough … credit to them … we’re happy we’ve got the win … they have a good structure … they give everything … that made it hard … but we had our chances and we could have killed the game … we focused on our job this week … we’re back on top … we’re not watching [Manchester] City too much … we’re in control now … if we win every week, we stay there.”
Viktor Gyökeres adds: “There are a few players who could have taken [the penalty] … this time it was me … it was important to score that one … it was nice … you always want to score goals … today we could have scored a few more … the most important thing is that we won the game.”
Meanwhile the other 8pm kick-off finished Leeds United 4-1 Crystal Palace. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s first-half double and Ethan Ampadu’s first Premier League goal we’ve already mentioned; Justin Devenny slotted a consolation penalty for Palace after a couple of minutes of injury time, before Anton Stach restored the three-goal gap for Leeds just before the end. All of which means Arsenal go top, Crystal Palace drop a place to eighth, Everton stay tenth, and Leeds rise to 16th, having built a comfortable little cushion between themselves and the relegation places.
Mikel Arteta beams with delight, before heading out onto the pitch to congratulate his men. It wasn’t particularly pretty, but he won’t care, as his team win on the road for the first time since the start of November, snapping a three-game barren run. And it means …
… but more of the Premier League table in a minute. David Moyes meanwhile harangues referee Samuel Barrott with eye-bulging passion, presumably voicing his take on the failure to award his side a second-half penalty for William Saliba’s high-kick onto the underside of Thierno Barry’s boot. You can understand his frustration. But on balance Arsenal were much the better team, with the right-hand post of Jordan Pickford’s goal denying them not one but two free-flowing goals. Arsenal will be top on Christmas Day.
ShareFULL TIME: Everton 0-1 Arsenal
On the eve of his sixth anniversary as Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta celebrates the win that ensures Arsenal will be top of the tree at Christmas!
90 min +6: Grealish is clumsily clipped by Saka, out on the left wing. One last chance to pump a free kick into the mixer. Garner takes … and Hincapie heads clear. That should be that.
90 min +5: Pickford launches long. The ball finds Dibling out on the right, but his low cross is straight at the first man Rice, who dispatches it up the other end of the field.
90 min +4: Zubimendi skies an attempted clearance backwards, but Raya springs to claim and bail him out of an embarrassing situation.
90 min +3: Everton can’t get the ball up the other end of the park.
90 min +2: Martinelli spins elegantly down the inside-left channel and into the Everton box. So smooth, but then he spoils it with a heavy touch. No chance of a shot now. Goal kick.
90 min +1: … but while nothing comes of the corner, neither can Everton get out. Arsenal are pinning them back in their final third. They’re doing a marvellous job of running the clock down, and keeping play as far from their own goal as possible. Lessons learned from the near-fiasco against Wolves, perhaps, when they invited pressure and nearly came a cropper because of it?
90 min: Martinelli is booked for kicking the ball away. Then Rohl coughs up possession just outside his own box. Calafiori strides goalwards, then tries to release Jesus with a pass down the channel. Tarkowski deflects the ball across Pickford and inches wide of the right-hand post. Nothing comes of the corner. There will be six additional minutes.
88 min: Before the corner is taken, Arsenal replace Odegaard with Merino. Then Garner heads the set piece clear. “Yes, Arsenal’s attack is more than just set pieces; however, they still score nowhere near enough goals,” writes Daniel Finucane. “Once again, they’re at risk of dropping points if they let in just one goal. That is not sustainable, even if their vaunted back line wasn’t hit by injuries. I’d love to see the stats on how many minutes teams have led by 2+ goals during league games. It’s been a rarity for the Gunners. Surely that can’t be typical for supposed nailed-on title contenders?”
87 min: Saka dribbles into the Everton box from the right. He gets past Mykolenko, but can’t jink his way around Keane, who sticks out a leg in the well-timed fashion to deny a shooting opportunity and tap behind for a corner.
86 min: Garner jinks his way past a couple of challenges and rolls a pass down the left for Beto. Saliba comes across to intercept, though Beto makes enough of a nuisance of himself that it takes the usually composed Arsenal defender quite some time to work out how to safely get the ball back to his keeper. He eventually manages to do so, but the home crowd appreciated Beto’s efforts.
84 min: Rohl bursts into space down the left but eventually realises nobody’s kept up with him. Nobody to pass to. He’s eventually forced to turn tail and pass backwards. The crowd groans, though one suspects not because of anything Rohl’s done. Where was the cavalry charge?
83 min: Arsenal keep the ball awhile and quieten the crowd. No big late push from Everton as of yet.
81 min: Sky have just flashed up a fascinating stat: four of the ten goals Arsenal have conceded so far this season have come after the 81-minute mark. That’s a 40 percent rate, and it’s the highest in the division. The next cabs on the rank are Newcastle (36%), Brentford (32%) and Nottingham Forest (28%). So let’s see how this pans out.
80 min: Martinelli comes on for Trossard. “I suspect most people reading this MBM would agree with the ‘making things up as they go along’ line (58 minutes),” begins Rob Knap. “Even the normally measured Eddie Howe lost it today. Unai Emery has almost spun himself into the ground in frustration this season. Meanwhile, tonight, David Moyes’s famed spin-cycle eyes whirred into action after that non-pen. You also feel Mikel Arteta’s one bad VAR decision away from his sad, Teddy-bear eyes just bursting into tears. Won’t somebody think of the managers!”
78 min: Tarkowski goes long. Beto competes for a header but doesn’t win one. Raya claims. “Seeing Dominic Calvert-Lewin tear it up for the Damned United, as an Everton supporter, is like wishing the best for a romantic ex,” begins Eric Peterson. “The sentiment truly is genuine and heartfelt, but make no mistake, there is a virulent undercurrent, deep down, of: WHYYYYY?? WHY NOT US?!?!”
76 min: Everton roll the dice, replacing McNeil and Alcaraz with Dibling and Rohl.
74 min: Saka dribbles hard down the right, enters the box and shoots. Keane blocks, then the ball rebounds off the Arsenal winger and out for a goal kick. For all Arsenal’s recent pressure, they haven’t found the second goal that would make their life a hell of a lot easier. And business time’s a-comin’.
73 min: Arsenal have done extremely well to slow down Everton’s earlier second-half momentum. They’re very much back on top now.
71 min: Arsenal ping it down the inside-right channel again. Odegaard slips the ball into the box, but this time the move ends in farce as Saka and Timber run into each other, both men’s eyes lighting up at the sight of a good chance, six yards out. Goal kick.
69 min: Arsenal hit the right-hand post again! This time it’s Zubimendi, drilling a low shot off the base of it, having met a cutback from Odegaard on the right. That was another fine Arsenal move, who are putting it all together right now. Just a set-piece team? I don’t think so.
67 min: Grealish accidentally stands on Saka’s foot as he takes off on a run. He didn’t know his England team-mate was behind him. But that’ll hurt, and Pickford comes across to check on [cuts, pastes] his England team-mate. Happily Saka is back up and about soon enough.
66 min: … and then Beto replaces Barry. “Broadly I’m in favour of VAR,” writes Joshua Keeling. Some much-needed balance in this debate, yes? Nope! “But how on earth was that not given as a penalty? It’s a stonewall penalty. Everton have been hard done by there.”
65 min: Both teams make their first change of the evening. Jesus comes on for Gyokeres …
64 min: Arsenal nearly score one of the goals of the season. Odegaard and Saka combine down the right. The ball’s shuttled infield to Rice, who takes it to the edge of the box and rolls it further left to Trossard. The winger opens his body and curls a powerful shot across Pickford … and off the meat of the right-hand post and away! So close to a magnificent team move.
Pank! Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 16.32 EST
62 min: Leeds are running away with it at Elland Road. They’re now 3-0 up on Crystal Palace, Ethan Ampadu scoring his first-ever top-flight goal on the hour.
60 min: The wind’s behind Everton at the moment, though. And the steam is coming out of David Moyes’s lugs, because Hincapie hauls back Barry but doesn’t go into the book. Meanwhile in other unhappiness news, here’s Dwight Moe: “So, the referee didn’t see a jumping player handle the ball with both hands above everybody’s head. Tell me again how refs aren’t waiting for VAR to make calls. PGMOL is unfit for purpose.” Preach on, brother.
David Moyes. Steaming. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.30 EST
58 min: VAR absolves Saliba of blame, despite the defender clearly kicking the underside of Barry’s boot. Referee’s call, basically, and not clear and obvious enough an error to overturn. Ah, who can say? To belabour an oft-repeated observation: nobody knows anything any more, everyone’s just making things up as they go along.
57 min: Alcarez flashes a shot wide right of goal. But seconds before that, Saliba, high-kicking alongside Barry, caught his opponent’s foot. And VAR is going to take a look at a possible spot kick!
56 min: Gyokeres is yellow-carded for delaying a restart by toe-poking the ball away from Pickford. Meanwhile here’s Niall Fogarty on the aforementioned Leeds scoring sensation Dominic Calvert-Lewin: “To set the record straight, Everton didn’t want him to leave.”
54 min: Grealish dribbles hard down the left only to lose control and run the ball out for a goal kick. Meanwhile replays of that Barry incident from another angle suggest there might have been some contact between Zubimendi and the Everton striker … though it was outside the box, so VAR couldn’t get involved. Either way, not a penalty. But yes, the crowd is up now.
52 min: Barry embarks on a gangly run down the inside-left channel. He goes over, right on the edge of the box, with Zubimendi directly behind him. For a second, it looks like the ref’s pointed to the penalty spot, but turns out he’s asking Barry to get back up. Replays show very little contact, if any, and Barry tangling his own legs up. Still, that’s got the crowd going.
51 min: Timber, down the right, cuts back for Saka, whose low drive is kicked away by Pickford.
50 min: Gyokeres powers his way down the left and nearly barges his way past all of Tarkowski, Keane and Mykolenko, converging all at once. The ball squeaks through to Pickford, just before the striker can shoot, six yards out. Gyokeres should never have been allowed to advance so far.
48 min: Tarkowski swings a cross in from the right. Barry competes for a header, but can only divert the ball gently up and into the arms of Raya. Still, this is better from Everton, though the bar was set so low in the first half as to be almost subterranean.
47 min: There were no half-time changes, by the way. “Jake O’Brien’s moment of madness might be more a case of muscle memory,” argues Justin Kavanagh. “He used to play hurling in Cork in his early days. I remember another ex-GAA player, Kevin Moran, having a similar lapse at Old Trafford years ago as he reached up to grab a high ball. You can take the boy out of Ireland, etc.”
46 min: O’Brien throws long from the right. Iroegbunam, from the middle of a penalty-box muddle, has a dig. He claims the ball hits Timber on the arm, but he’s not getting the spot kick he wants. But there’s a shot by Everton at last, and their xG has whistled all the way up to 0.11.
Everton get the second half started … and the scoreline’s pretty much as expected, because here’s the xG after the first half: Everton 0, Arsenal 1.04. No shots, no crosses completed, two touches in the opposition box; to say Everton need to take it up a notch is an understatement.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME at Elland Road: Leeds United 2-0 Crystal Palace. You’ll notice there’s been another goal. And who scored it, on the very stroke of half-time? It’s that man again! Tommy Handley! Dominic Calvert-Lewin! His header makes it six goals in four-and-a-half games in the Premier League for Leeds, and what toothless Everton would do right now to take this current version of their old occasionally misfiring striker back.
ShareHALF TIME: Everton 0-1 Arsenal
As things stand, Arsenal will be top of the tree at Christmas. Do Everton, decent for 15 minutes then a non-event afterwards, have anything in response?
45 min +5: Alcaraz ships possession cheaply, allowing Arsenal to counter with numbers. Odegaard releases Gyokeres down the right. Gyokeres dinks a cross to the far stick, where Saka heads harmlessly wide left. Everton, light at the back, get away with one.
45 min +4: Garner shimmies his way down the left but his cross, hung up gently, is easy pickings for Raya.
45 min +3: Calafiori is back on.
45 min +2: Calafiori is thankfully back up and on his feet, able to continue. But he wanders off to go through the concussion protocols. In the meantime, the game will continue, and this half will now go on longer than the four additional minutes previously advertised.
45 min: Calafiori leaps high to challenge for a ball with Barry, and accidentally lands flat on his back. Ow. That’ll have winded him. And he might have banged his head as well. Play is immediately stopped and on comes the physio.
44 min: Saliba rolls a pass down the inside-right channel for Gyokeres, who can’t spin his way around and past Tarkowski. The defender holds his line well, ensuring Gyokeres can’t get a shot on goal. The ball sails harmlessly out for a goal kick. That’s fine play by Tarkowski, with Everton looking momentarily in trouble.
43 min: Arsenal continue to ping it around. David Moyes will be desperate to get his men in for the half-time break without further damage. Then, time for a wee chat.
41 min: Back at the Hill Dickinson, Calvert-Lewin’s old pals can hardly get a touch. Saka rolls the ball across the face of their penalty box, from right to left, to tee up Rice for a shot. Rice sends a poor curler, intended for the top right, deep into the stand behind.
40 min: In tonight’s other Premier League game, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has just given Leeds the lead against Crystal Palace. He’s now found the net in five consecutive matches. A penny for the thoughts of Everton fans right now.
39 min: Tarkowski, no stranger to an agricultural challenge, comes clattering into the back of Gyokeres. Into the book he goes.
37 min: Arsenal have enjoyed 70 percent of possession since the goal. Everton, who started so promisingly, have totally retreated into their shell.
35 min: Odegaard wedges a cute pass down the inside-left channel and nearly finds Trossard, racing into the box. Trossard extends a leg, but can’t connect, because O’Brien does enough to deflect the ball away from him and into the arms of Pickford. Meanwhile here’s Kári Tulinius, on hand to calmly mop the brows of our fretting Arsenal brethren: “I think Arsenal look like a more balanced team than Manchester City, who are jittery every time a team runs at them. If the Sky Blues do win the league, that’ll be their 7th title in a decade. If a wonky City can triumph just because of individual talent, that’ll speak poorly of the rest of the league.”