wasn\u2019t Beto\u2019s day against Arsenal<\/a>, and it seems as if the experiment didn\u2019t work to use him from the start.<\/p>\nJake O\u2019Brien thrives in natual position for Everton<\/p>\n
Fear was in the minds of many Everton supporters when a team sheet dropped that didn\u2019t feature James Tarkowski or Jarrad Branthwaite.<\/p>\n
The two central defenders are usually so important for the Toffees, but it\u2019s safe to say that O\u2019Brien was able to step up in a big way.<\/p>\n
The Republic of Ireland international got the chance to feature as a centre-back, and he thrived on it just as he did against Burnley.<\/p>\n
He clocked up 17 defensive actions at the Emirates, with 12 coming by the way of clearances and the other five as recoveries.<\/p>\n
![\"Jake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jake-OBrien-Everton-stats-819x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Add to that his two ground duel wins and 80 per cent pass accuracy, and you have an ideal showcase for a defender away to a typically excellent attacking outfit.<\/p>\n
Everton player ratings vs Arsenal<\/p>\n
Jordan Pickford \u2013 7<\/p>\n
James Garner \u2013 7<\/p>\n
Jake O\u2019Brien \u2013 8<\/p>\n
Michael Keane \u2013 7<\/p>\n
Vitalii Mykolenko \u2013 7<\/p>\n
Idrissa Gueye \u2013 7<\/p>\n
Tim Iroegbunam \u2013 7<\/p>\n
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall \u2013 6<\/p>\n
Iliman Ndiaye \u2013 6<\/p>\n
Dwight McNeil \u2013 6<\/p>\n
Beto \u2013 3<\/p>\n
Substitutes<\/p>\n
Thierno Barry \u2013 4<\/p>\n
Merlin Rohl \u2013 N\/A<\/p>\n
Harrison Armstrong \u2013 N\/A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Imago Sat 14 March 2026 19:29, UK Updated Sat 14 March 2026 20:03, UK Everton fell to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[158213,61,60,158214,112],"class_list":["post-347037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-beto","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jake-ou2019brien","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Beto](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2-Split-1-1140x641.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Max](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Max-Wilkins-Breaking-Media.png\")
<\/p>\n