Marco Silva will be bitterly disappointed as a number of chances spurned saw Everton fall to their 11th loss at the Emirates since its opening in 2006, conceding two goals in the space of three minutes.
The Blues unlucky North London fate continued on Sunday afternoon as none of the six efforts on target beat Arsenal shot-stopper Petr Cech. A dominant first-half performance for the Toffees lead to a multitude of chances from the off, Dominic Calvert-Lewin wasting the earliest and best chance of the game for Everton: Tom Davies executing a beautifully weighted pass with the inset of his boot, releasing Calvert-Lewin one on one with the goalkeeper- hesitancy would cost him as Cech would sweep the ball from under the striker’s feet.
Determined pressing from Idrissa Gueye would force the Arsenal back line into an error, with Theo Walcott (who was lively during the Blues first-half spell) firing the ball across the six yard box. Though flagged offside, Calvert-Lewin’s sliding attempt to convert the ball into a gaping net was poor, fluffing wide of the target.
Jordan Pickford, aside from a brilliant close range save from Nacho Monreal, had little to do in the first 45, with the returning Richarlison stinging the hands of Cech more than once with several efforts. Lucas Digne would also produce a free-kick too hot for Cech to handle, who pushed the set-piece over the bar.
The promising in-your-face 45 minute showing from Everton would not be replicated in the second-half. French international Alexandre Laccazette would slip free of marking, receive the ball inside the area and bend a fabulous strike round Jonjoe Kenny into the top corner 56 minutes in. 1-0 to The Arsenal.
Everton shrank in confidence from the restart and started to let men slip from their mark. Aubameyang would double Unai Emery’s side advantage just three minutes later, clearly offside; which has a sense of deja vu, as Aubameyang’s first goal in English football came against the Blues at the Emirates- he was offside for that one too, yet the goal stood.
Arsenal vamped up a gear in confidence, controlling the majority of possession for the remainder of the game. “The result doesn’t reflect how both teams played during the match.” said a downtrodden Silva after the game “starting in the first minute, we had more chances to score.”
After expressing his disappointment with the amount of wasted chances, Silva commented on Aubameyang’s offside goal: “the first was offside as well. At this level, with this mistake, the ref put us in that condition.”
(@Max_Carlyle)
About The Author
