On the final home match of the year for the Toffees, the 1878s pulled out all the stops to end the year with a bang — literally. Fireworks whizzed through the air in front of an enormous tifo bearing the words “On the banks of the royal blue Mersey”, ensuring a memorable atmosphere for all in attendance. On the pitch, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was unavailable through injury, while Idrissa Gana Gueye and Illiman Ndiaye were away on international duty. Tim Iroegbunam, Carlos Alcaraz and Dwight McNeil were all called upon by David Moyes.
A cocktail of an 8pm kick-off under the lights, on the last Saturday before Christmas, blended with the impressive display before the whistle, ensured the atmosphere was raucous in the opening minutes. Arsenal did their best to quieten the crowd with patient, lateral possession and little real urgency.
As the match unfolded, both teams had spells on the ball, but it was the away side who looked more likely to break through the sturdy defences. The first attempt of note came in the 19th minute, as Arsenal worked the ball down the left, with Bukayo Saka finding himself on the opposite flank. His cross was half-cleared by Michael Keane, but Martin Zubimendi skied his shot well over the bar.
Moments later, Saka was back on his favoured side. He guided Vitaliy Mykolenko down the line before turning sharply and finding his overlapping full-back, Jurrien Timber. The Dutchman’s deflected cross looped towards the back post. Viktor Gyökeres flung himself towards the ball, narrowly missing it with his head, before the men in red all turned towards the referee, protesting furiously — a common theme throughout the evening.
The subsequent corner resulted in the visitors once again screaming at Samuel Barrott, as he waved away cries of handball. However, upon review, Jake O’Brien had surprisingly thrown both hands into the air as he jumped, blocking the header behind him with his hands. Mikel Arteta and co. were quick to latch onto it, with all members of staff on the Arsenal bench throwing their arms up in appeal. VAR intervened, and Gyökeres stepped up to score.
Minutes before the break, the Swede was played in by a through ball from William Saliba, only for James Tarkowski to produce a vital challenge as Gyökeres pulled the trigger, allowing the Blues to enter half-time only a goal down.
Everton needed inspiration in the second half if they were to get back into the game. Jack Grealish and James Tarkowski sent balls into the box after the interval, neither connecting cleanly with a blue shirt. Eventually, normality was restored as Arsenal enjoyed long spells of possession, dampening the crowd. Saka and Timber linked up once again, with the former’s strike cleared off the line by a retreating Tarkowski.
After a glorious opportunity to kill the game passed by, Everton entered their best spell of the match. Thierno Barry found himself driving towards the area after James Garner intercepted a pass through the middle. The young Frenchman was shepherded away from goal by Zubimendi before falling inside the box — not enough contact for the referee. Moments later, Iroegbunam recovered possession deep inside his own half and the ball was picked up by Dwight McNeil, who surged up the pitch, only for his pass to roll away from Carlos Alcaraz, who was primed to race through on goal.
The biggest moment came in the 57th minute. Jordan Pickford launched a free kick towards the edge of the box, with Tarkowski flicking it on. The ball dropped between Barry and Saliba as the pair tussled. It bounced upwards, Barry got there first, and was kicked by Saliba. Everton had their moment to protest, but after a brief VAR check, it was deemed insufficient. One does wonder how that decision might have gone had it been Ødegaard, Rice or Arteta on the receiving end.
Arsenal soon settled once more, and that proved to be that for Everton’s hopes. Despite the slender 1–0 scoreline, the visitors remained composed. Leandro Trossard should have doubled the lead, but struck the post. In truth, Everton rarely laid a glove on their opponents, but can now turn their attention to more forgiving fixtures in the hope of reigniting their season.
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