Arsenal show steel to steal a point at Everton

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Olivier Giroud scored the equalizer in the 90th minute

Many doubted whether Arsenal had the strength and resilience of Manchester City and Chelsea in their ranks. “We won’t be bullied,” Arsene Wenger said, his defiant message echoed by Aaron Ramsey, but for 83 minutes, they had been.

“Many teams think that [Arsenal can be bullied]. We get that question many times,” Wenger said. “But if you look at the results from the last three or four years away from home, we are the team with the best away results. When we buy a player we do not look how heavy he is, but how good he is. It is a coincidence that we are a bit lightweight.

“Maybe because we use more technical players in the middle of the park, especially Arteta. On that front maybe. It depends as well who plays. If I play [Santi] Cazorla or Podolski, the weight is a bit different, but it is true we are a bit more lightweight than before, when we had [Emmanuel] Petit, [Patrick] Vieira, [Ray] Parlour. On Fridays when we checked the weight it was quite something there.”

Ramsey echoed his manager’s rhetoric: “Manchester City are a big team and Chelsea are a big team, “ the Welshman explained. “It’s all about opinions. We’re quite a small team by comparison and we like to get the ball down. Maybe they won’t be as agile.”

But Arsenal’s flair had failed to produce against an organised Everton team.

A mark of champions-elect

Losing 2-0 courtesy of accomplished finishes from Seamus Coleman and Steven Naismith, Arsenal were substantially out-played, continuing an uninspiring start to their promising campaign. Yes, they had beaten a Crystal Palace team in disaraay on the opening day of the Premier League. Yes, they had emerged from the first-leg of their Champions League play-off tie against Turkish club Besiktas with a respectable 0-0 shutout, handing Wenger’s men the incentive in the second-leg at the Emirates Stadium. Yet both performances were poor.

If Arsenal are to be regarded as serious title contenders, they will have to repeat their seven-minute come-back to steal an extraordinary point at Goodison Park on more than one occasion. If it is the mark of champions-elect, Arsenal should be challenging alongside the talent, depth and power of City and Chelsea.

The clock at Goodison displayed 83 minutes but Arsenal, resilient, refused to be daunted, commendably persevering to atone for a poor display. Santi Cazorla, introduced after 74 minutes, was marvellous in bewildering Coleman and James McCarthy and delivering a wonderfully teasing cross, ulimately directed goalwards by the onrushing and alert Ramsey, which should have come embossed with the word ‘invitation’.

Apprehension seized the Gwlayds Street End and Arsenal pounced on the incertitude engulfing Goodison. Nacho Monreal’s determined endeavour to revive a misplaced pass from Ramsey destined to evoke a fresh wave of groans from the 3,000 Arsenal supporters housed in the Bullens Road Stand embodied their belated, but excellent, display of commendable work ethic.

The Spaniard’s cross was headed towards goal by the towering Giroud, another beneficiary of Wenger’s substitutions, and saved Arsenal from the ignominy of last season, where they succumbed to Everton 3-0 at Goodison.

“We have a great response with complete desire to come back and the spirit was fantastic,” said Wenger. “In the end we got back to 2-2 and we got a strong point and we deserved one if you look at the chances we had, especially in the second half. We came back very late but our spirit got us a point. It shows the resilience is there. The second goal was offside but we took it on the chin and came back.”

“Overall, I think we played a much better second half,” captain Per Mertesacker, returning as a world champion, explained. “We put the pressure on them all the time. That was very important for us. It doesn’t feel like a win, but at the end it was great team spirit.”

Atonement for a poor performance

Wenger’s slightly experimental side had faltered to miserable effect. Alexis Sanchez was ineffective as a lone striker in the Frenchman’s 4-2-3-1 system, the Chilean often isolated up front and forced to drop deep in a bid to impose the influence his £35m value warrants. “He is not ready physically but I am not worried about him,” said Wenger. “Once he is at his physical best his confidence will come back.”

Wenger spoke of Sanchez’s World Cup exertions with Chile yet his minimal influence on the match was alarming. Starting as a lone striker, the former Barcelona attacker, out of the 28 touches he registered in the first-half (before he was replaced by Giroud at half-time), failed to touch the ball in Everton’s penalty area.

Mesut Ozil, upon his long-awaited return from an extended summer break, granted due to his memorable World Cup endeavours with Germany, was disappointing, the world champion failing to impose himself on the match and culpable for Coleman's opener for Everton, permitting the Irishman to run past him.

Yet Wenger merits adulation for masterminding the game’s transformation, replacing the temperamental Jack Wilshere, who had been booked by referee Kevin Friend, with the ultimately vital Cazorla. His half-time introduction of Giroud for the faltering Sanchez also proved crucial.

If anything, this hard-earned draw represents Arsenal’s new-found grit and never-say-die mentality. Wenger spoke of the draw under-ling his side's title credentials. “It is our ambition to challenge for the title. If we can maintain that, of course we can be challengers,” he said. Maybe, just maybe.