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Arsenal had the chance of jumping a position while going 2 points clear off Tottenham to the 3rd position in the League table but failed, courtesy of a defeat in the hands of Everton. Unai Emery made two changes from the side that won at Newcastle last week as Elneny and Mkhitaryan started for Ramsey and Iwobi respectively. The Merseyside club welcomed their long gone leader Phil Jagielka who scored right at the 10th-minute mark from the face of the goal after Arsenal failed to clear a long throw-in delivered by Lucas Digne.
The London club had a really good record against the Merseyside club coming into this game. Arsenal has won more games against Everton than any other club in the Premier League era.
Arsenal has struggled this season when it comes to their defence and things get worse when talking about the defence on the road. Arsenal is the only club in this season of the Premier League which has not been able to keep a single clean sheet away from their home. If you look at this record, you'll find how shabby and poor Arsenal's defence has been this season.
#3 Arsenal's poor defensive performance continues
Arsenal was ineffective in the whole game and created no real danger for the opposite goalkeeper. They struggled to find a driving pace for the attack throughout the game even after having the likes of Lacazette and Ozil in the squad. Ozil lacked the drive too and was seen a bit lose on the ball at times. Elneny and Gendouzi were never a real threat on the attack whereas Mkhitaryan was showing signs of danger in the midfield but the team could not use any of his ability.
Arsenal has been incredibly poor defensively which can be analyzed in the horrifying stats below throughout the season:
Clean sheet Arsenal has only 7 clean sheets in 32 league games this season and ranks 11th tieing up with 6 other sides including Manchester United.
Clearances: Arsenal have 667 ball clearances to their name and ranks 15th in this department just above Spurs who have 666 clearances to their name.
Tackles: Arsenal have tackled 536 times and ranks 12th overall.
The Gunners have conceded 40 goals already this season with an average of 1.25 goals per game. The only category in which they score well are goalkeeper saves, Leno making 83 and Petr Cech making 28 which equates to 111 saves in total, ranking 5th amongst all the other clubs.
If Arsenal wants to continue with their ambition of the top 4 as well as the Europa League, they would have to work on solving their defensive issues.
#2 Everton put on a brilliant performance
It would be only fair to say that Everton deserved to win this match more than anything. They worked for it tactically and physically and were the more dominant side throughout the match. Continuous attacking while defending deep, they had their mind set on the game and knew what to do and what to expect out of this match.
Kurt Zouma and Phil Jagielka both were superior in the match as they held off the Arsenal attack and gave almost no space for a shot. They restricted movement into the box and man-marked every Arsenal player coming into the box. They managed to get a clean sheet out of this difficult game and helped their side winning all 3 points. Andre Gomes and Idrissa Gueye were exceptional in their job and so was the much anticipated Brazilian Bernard who displayed a glimpse of his talent to the Premier League in the match.
Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne both were important in the attacking as well as defensive duties with both of them being the competitor for the Man Of the Match but rightfully went to the 22-year-old Dominic Calvert Lewin who played one of his best games in the Everton jersey. He went nonstop onto the Arsenal defence causing problems and forcing mistakes. Even at the 80th-minute mark, Calvert-Lewin wasn't shy of running straight at Mustafi and forcing a foul on him causing a caution for the Arsenal defender.
Everton showed a real character and played the full 90 minutes with harmony.
#1 The race for Top 4 is closer than ever
With just 3 points separating the 4 big sides in the top 6, the race for the Champions League spot is tougher than ever. Arsenal could have gone on to the 3rd position ahead of Spurs had they won this game but due to their poor performance, they stay on 4th with a point shy of their big rivals Spurs and drawing with Chelsea. Manchester United stay at the 6th position with 61 points.
The title race is now between the two clubs which has been pretty obvious in the long run but the scrutiny for the 3rd and 4th position is another thing which is making the viewers bite their nails off.
With just 6 games to go in the season, Arsenal has 4 away games and 2 home games out of which no single game is against a team in the top 6 currently. The Gunners still have a lot of work to do in fixing their defence which makes up for an entertaining end for the season. This battle for top 4 may go to the end with everything still left to play for the big guns.
