Everton 2-1 Arsenal: Report, goals and action from Goodison Park
Arsenal miss the chance to go top of the Premier League while Everton celebrate just their second win in 11 attemptsCopa del Rey live:Quarter Final Draw
Everton 2-1 Arsenal: Full-time report
Arsenal took the lead just 20 minutes into the game through Alexis Sanchez but seemed to thinl Everton would roll over and they stopped attacking the home side with any purpose. Their mediocre effort was punished with a minute to go in the first half when Seamus Coleman levelled matters with a glancing header from a Leighton Baines cross.
Everton came out and tore into their opponents despite Arsenal enjoying a brief spell when they were camped out in the hosts' penalty area. Despite not breaking them down, it seemed like we would be heading a for a draw when a sustained period of pressure by Everton resulted in Ashley Williams popping up and directing a header into the bottom corner of Petr Cech's goal.
Phil Jagielka receieved his marching orders for a late second yellow for a tactical foul that broke up an Arsenal attack. The game ended with Petr Cech arriving up for a corner that he almost got his head to but wasfoiled by Martin Stekelenburg.
It is Koeman and Everton's second win in 11 games and Arsenal will not head into the weekend's game with Manchester City three points behind Chelsea at the top of the table.
Everton 2-1 Arsenal: Second half
Min 90 + 4 | Absolute mayhem. Petr Cech nearly gets on the end of a header in Everton's area but Stekelenburg gets his hand to it. Two blocked shots later, one off the line and Everton are breaking with no goalkeeper in Arsenal's goal. They make a mess of it as Lukaku fails to shoot on an open goal. Arsenal break but Sanchez puts too much on a pass to Ozil and it goes out for a goalkick. AND SCENE!
Red card - Jagielka gladly takes a second yellow and walks off with just under a minute to go!
Min 90 + 1 | Koeman might be happy with 2-1 but Barkley isn't as he drives a shot towards Cech. Saved and out for a corner and Everton will gladly take their time over this one before deciding that the best course to take it to keep it in the corner where Arseneal can't score.
Everton substitution - James McCarthy trots off and is replaced by Funes Mori. Koeman happy with the scoreline, as you would expect, as he tries to kill the game.
Min 89 | Arsenal into overdrive now as they search for an equaliser. Sanchez breaks out his pitching wedge and chips a cross towards Giroud but Stekelenburg as safe as houses.
Min 86 | GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! Ashley Williams gets his head to Barkley's corner and it nestles perfectly in Arsenal's net. Koeman on the sideline is ecstatic. Some really slack defending by Arsenal and Ozil in particular. He just watched as Williams surged past him towards the ball.
Min 86 | Corner from Barkley lands at Jagielka's feet but Cech turns it away for another corner!
Min 76 | Koscielny goes on Mark Clattenburg's naughty list. He is booked for a tackle on James McCarthy.
Min 74 | Gana with a slick one-two with Calvin Lewin but he tries to play through and probably should have shot himself.
Min 83 | Everton frustrating Arsenal now. They are holding possession and won't give the visitors a look at it. They still haven't had too many chances to speak of but not letting Arsenal any either.
Everton substitution - Enner Valencia is replaced by Calvert-Lewin.
Min 78 | Sanchez playing deeper now after the Giroud switch. He looks for Bellerin, who is racing towards goal, with a through ball. Stekelenburg comes out and collects.
Min 76 | Sanchez finds Iwobi but his acrobatic effort hits the side netting and was never troubling Stekelenburg.
Min 74 | I thought Arsenal would score but Everton have them well and truly pinned back inside their own half. Lukaku makes a good move before Barkley lays it out to Coleman. Cleared by Arsenal.
Min 72 | Lukaku with a blocked effort and Coleman swings the rebound in but it too is blocked and sent out for a corner.
Arsenal substitution - Oxlade-Chamberlain is hauled off in place of Giroud. Iwobi comes on for Walcott also.
Min 70 | Lukaku just devoured Gabriel in a foot race. To his credit, the centre-half never gave up and put enough pressure on the Everton striker to force a corner when he wound up to take the shot.
Min 69 | McCarthy immediately looks for Miralles but he put too much on the pass.
Everton substitution - Kevin Miralles comes on for Aaron Lennon.
Min 65 | Valencia goes all in on a pair of nines.. and loses as he misses the ball with a sliding tackle! Monreal whips the cross in but Sanchez can't get there before Williams. Arsenal looking more and more dangerous now.
Min 64 | Coleman breaks loose, finds Valencia and he whips one goalwards. It catches Koscielny, which takes the sting out of it, to the delight of Petr Cech.
Min 60 | Long ball to Lukaku, the Belgian chests it down to Barkley and he tries his luck. It fizzes low and across Cech but it was always drifting wide.
Min 60 | He does not look comfortable at all but there is no ned for Joel Robles yet because he is going to try and continue.
Min 58 | Bellerin plays Ozil through but it is too close to the oncoming Stekelenburg. Baines slides too to make a nuisance of himself but he ends up catching his goalkeeper in the knee with his boot.
Min 56 | Barkley. Straight into the wall! All of Baines' good work and he didn't even get a crack at the free.
Min 55 | Baines with a dribble up the middle. He leaves Xhaka on the floor (he slipped) but his venture ends with a Coquelin trip. Free-kick in Ross Barkley/Leighton Baines territory.
Min 54 | Mistake by Coleman as he coughs up possesion. Sanchez gets on the end of it and finds Ozil but his left-footed effort bends high and over the bar.
Min 52 | Arsenal continue to look for ways to break down Everton. This time they try the Bellerin root but the pass to him is overcooked and goes out for a goalkick.
Min 49 | Sanchez, Walcott and Ozil link well in the middle before Sanchez crosses to Walcott. He can't get over his header and it just skids off the top of his head and wide.
Min 46 | We are back underway at Goodison. Everton will be hoping to keep playing as well as they were later in the first half.
Everton 1-1 Arsenal: First half summary
A tepid performance from Arsenal has seen Everton peg them back with a late equaliser. Alexis Sanchez gave them Arsenal the lead through a free-kick when Theo Walcott was fouled by Phil Jagielka in a dangerous position. The Chilean got lucky when the ball bounced off an unsuspecting Ashley Williams and wrong-footed Martin Stekelenburg.
After that, it was all Everton as they tried to pokes hole sin Arsenal's defence. Aaron Lennon tried, and failed, as did Romelu Lukaku. It would take an excellent cross from Leighton Baines, some slack defending from Arsenal and a glancing Seamus Coleman header to bring the sides level after 44 minutes.
Ronald Koeman will feel like his side can go on to win this game now if Arsenal remain as poor up front as they looked in the first half. Wenger, however, will want to head into the weekend ahead of Chelsea and will surely go all out for the win against a previously struggling Everton side.
Everton 1-1 Arsenal: First half
Min 45 + 2 | Some trouble at the half-time whistle as Ozil and Gabriel mingle with their opponents. Seamus Coleman is there too but it is not quite clear as to what is happening. After a quick traffic jam at the entrance to the tunnel, normal service resumes, and the two teams stream into the dressing room.
Min 45 | Sanchez has an effort with his right from a long way out. A speculative effort, I believe, is what they call that one! He looks for a corner too, to save his blushes but Clattenburg points for the goal kick.
Min 44 | GOAL! The first cross of the game by Everton and the smallest man on the field gets his head to it to draw Everton level. Leighton Baines whips a cross in and an unmarked Seamus Coleman glances it beyond Cech.
Min 42 | James McCarthy is the second Everton player to go in the book as he catches Coquelin with a late, clumsy tackle.
Min 41 | Arsenal corner. It pops up to Koscielny but there is not enough pace on it to header it towards goal and he just helps it back towards the danger area. Everton clear and get a free-kick for a Coquelin foul on Enner Valencia.
Min 39 | Some confusion in Arsenal's penalty area as Monreal fluffs a clearance. James McCarthy lays up Lennon but it comes at him too fast and his reactionary effort flies wide of the post.
Min 38 | In the last 10 minutes, Everton have had 51% of possession. They have taken marginal control of this game but still no big chances to speak of for the home side.
Min 36 | Lukaku with a shot outside the area on his left. It ends up in the top tier of Goodison though.
Min 35 | Barkley tried to bend a pass around Arsenal's defence but it's spinning away from Valencia and he has to suffice with watching it go out for a goal-kick.
In the other game tonight, Bournemouth take the lead against Leicester through Marc Pugh. 1-0.
Min 33 | We very nearly got to see that counter-attack pulled off to perfection. Ozil breaks free but he pulls it back to an Everton defender. Slick move by the away side though.
Min 31 | Aaron Lennon receives a pass from Ashley Williams and he jinks his way into a good position but his left-footed shot sliced off his foot. Decent effort though. Koeman has obviously told Everton not to cross the ball because of Arsenal's lethal counter-attack. They have had a number of chances to let it into Lukaku and they have not taken any of them.
Min 30 | Everton press Arsenal really well and Aaron Lennon wins the ball back. They throw it around the middle for a few seconds and the result is Enner Valencia losing possession on the edge of Arsenal's penalty area.
Min 29 | Much better from Everton. They win a corner and Valencia meets it with his head but it goes over. Might have been more shoulder than head, but it's a start! Good build-up to win the corner too for the Toffees.
Min 28 | Lukaku goes up for the ball with Koscielny and he flattens the Frenchman. He gets up holding his back and limping gingerly.
Min 26 | I hate to continue to be negative towards Everton but that was really bad. Barkley fakes six or seven crosses and then Monreal steals the ball off him. He has arguably the most impsosing striker in the league in the box - Lukaku. throw it into him!
Min 24 | Ozil with a corner, Valencia wins it and passes it to an Arsenal player. Even he looked confused as to what he was doing.
Min 21 | I think it's safe to say the Everton fans are disgruntled. Although, some of them just look bored. Meanwhile, Koeman takes a sip of his water and assesses his options.
Min 20 | GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! A strange goal. The free-kick hits Ashley Williams before beating Stekelenburg and rolling into the net. A nightmare start for Everton, and Williams, who holds his hands over his face.
Min 18 | In the same move, Ashley Williams swung his right foot at the ball, missed and caught his teammate Gana on the thigh. He remains down but is walking to the sideline under his own power. Looks like he will continue.
Min 18 | Ball in over the top reaches Monreal with Coleman out of position. It results in Theo Walcott being taken down late by Phil Jagielka and the Everton defender receiving a yellow card.
Min 17 | Arsenal enjoying the bulk of possession with over 60% so far. Everton might have expected that though.
Min 14 | Arsenal with some good ball retention and patience outside Everton's penalty area. Still eyeing up their opposition as to the best way to break them down.
Min 12 | Barkley sends a pass to Ronald Koeman. He was aiming for Coleman with a switched pass but there was too much hot sauce on it for the Irishman!
Min 11 | Everton with a decent spell of possession down the right involving Coleman, Valencia and McCarthy. It finds its way to Lukaku but Koscielny does well to get a foot to it. Better from the home side.
Min 9 | Lukaku tries to centre a cross along the ground to Enner Valencia but it is cut out by an Arsenal defender. Corner but Lukaku should have done better with that.
Min 8 | Ozil has a chance at the near post but he gets underneath it too much and it goes up into the crowd.
Min 7 | How frustrating. Aaron Lennon and Ross Barkley combine in the middle themselves some time before James McCarthy passes back and Ashley Williams hoofs it forward and Everton lose possession.
Min 5 | Sanchez trying to make his way through a raft of Everton players. He goes down and has a look at the ref but Clattenburg doesn't flinch.
Min 4 | Gueye puts Lukaku in with a pass but he is too far out to the right. He does get a corner out of a two-on-one situation though. Possibly the best result he could have hoped for.
Min 2 | An Arsenal attack breaks down and Ashley Williams clears. Ross Barkley tries to break fast. Koeman wasn't joking when he said his side would sit deep and break fast! Signs of it after just two minutes.
Min 1 | We are underway at Goodison Park as Arsenal look to go top of the league and Everton look to get just their second win in 11 games. The linesman had some technical issues with his mic that held us up for second but all seems to be okay!
Everton - Arsenal: team news
Everton: Stekelenburg, Coleman, Jagielka, Williams, Baines, Gana, McCarthy, Lennon, Barkley, Valencia, Lukaku.
Arsenal: Cech, Monreal, Gabriel, Koscielny, Bellerin, Xhaka, Coquelin, Walcott, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanchez.
Everton - Arsenal: live build-up
20:41 | The players getting friendly in the tunnel. Goodison is an intimate ground and a great ground but that tunnel is needlessly slender.
20:38 | Everton have the small matter of the Merseyside derby to contend with in their next game. They also play Leicester and then Hull on the 30th to round out the year.
20:36 | Arsenal have Manchester City at the Emirates and then West Brom to round out the year. A win tonight would give them real confidence to go and beat Pep on Sunday.
20:28 | “I think it’s really important that we are a really good compact team tonight," according to Ronald Koeman. I suspect that Everton will have to sit deep in order to prevent Alexis Sanchez from running riot. We have seen what the Chilean and Ozil can do in behind high defensive lines!
20:14 | Idriss Gueye has played in every game except one this season for Everton. He was serving a suspension for accumulation of yellow cards during that tie. He remains vital to everything Koeman is doing at the club.
20:09 | Just in case you were wondering, of course, here is the Leicester vs. Bournemouth team news too.
Bournemouth: Boruc; Francis, Cook, Aké, Daniels; Smith, Arter, Wilshere, Pugh; King, Afobe.
Leicester: Zieler; Hernandez, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs; Albrighton, King, Amartey, Mahrez; Slimani, Vardy.
20:07 | James McCarthy keeps his place despite being in and out of Koeman's plans during the season. It will be just his sixth appearence this year.
19:59 | Although we can see Alexis Sanchex giving that Everton centre-back pairing some trouble tonight.
19:57 | Koeman said recently that the players needed to work harder and after their 3-2 defeat against Watford and with just one win in 10, he obviously feels he needs to change everything. If they lose this, his seat might be getting particularly hot entering the Christmas period.
19:52 | Koeman make a number of changes to his side with Funes Mori dropping out in favour of Phil Jagielka. Kevin Miralles, Gareth Barry and Gerard Deulofeu drop to the bench and are replaced by the returning trio of Ross Barkley, Aaron Lennon, Enner Valencia.
19:50 | Gabriel partners Koscielny at the back for Arsenal and Bellerin starts at right-back. Other than that, it's business as usual for Arsenal as Wenger makes that just that one change due to Mustafi's injury.
19:31 | Arsenal are looking for their 30th victory over Everton in the league. They currently sit on 29 wins over Everton, which is more wins than they have over any other team.
19:21 | The time before that? We had to go way back into the vault. It was during the 2006-07 season and Andy Johnson scored with an assist from Mikel Arteta! No wonder Arsenal signed him, to prevent doing damage to them every time he played against them.
19:17 | The last time Everton beat Arsenal, Steven Naismith, Romelu Lukaku and Mikel Arteta got on the scoresheet.
19:02 | Check out a defiant Arsene Wenger, who says "Chelsea are good, but they're not favourites." It would be interesting to see if Arsenal are given credit if they win tonight. We haven't seen too many places issuing them with the favourites tag.
18:58 | There has been some questions over Ronald Koeman's Irish contingent, aside from Seamus Coleman, as they don't seem to be getting enough game time. Might go back to Koeman's row with Ireland when he accused Martin O'Neill of Killing his players.
18:52 | There is plenty of time before the game so check out this piece by Bleacher Report on Everton's American fans, who will most likely be stuck in work today, unless they called in sick because of the game!
18:51 | Koeman has been realistic about Everton's form in the build-up to the game, saying "Of course we will not win every game but one out of 10 is underperforming for everyone."
18:49 | Paulista has only played in three games this year in the league - all at right back - and will be up against it if Lukaku is in the mood. Rob Holding has not played since August and has himself only played three games in the league.
18:47 | It's not the only Premier League game on tonight. Leicester City, fresh off their hiding of Manchester City, play Bournemouth.
18:43 | Mertesacker is back in training but he is not yet ready to play first team football. He injured his knee during a preseason game but is on the comeback trail. With Mustafi out, former Villarreal man Gabriel Paulista and Rob Holding could be set to hold down the fort for the Gunners at Goodison Park.
18:32 | Arsenal are unbeaten in 14 games, a run that brings us all the way back to the opening day of the Premier League when Liveprool beat them 4-3 at the Emirates.
18:30 | If ever there was the chance to get into the Christmas spirit, midweek Premier League football is it! Games will be coming thick and fast now and while managers like to complain about the congested fixture list, and it's not good for the players, we love it!
18:28 | Arsenal have the chance to go top of the Premier League tonight if they win by more than one goal. They are currently three points behind Chelsea and one goal behind them on goal difference.
18:25 | Public Service Announcement: Don't forget to change your Fantasy Football team. you only have 15 minutes.
We don't have team news yet but Everton will recall Ross Barkley, Aaron Lennon and Enner Valencia to their squad.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are missing Mustafi and Aaron Ramsey, who are both struggling with hamstring injuries.
18:22 | Everton are without a win since October 30th when they beat West Ham 2-0. They've shipped 11 goals in the following five games including losses to Swansea and Koeman's former club Southampton.
17:50 | Romelu Lukaku has scored (9) or assisted (3) 12 of Everton’s last 15 Premier League goals, can he cause trouble again tonight?
17:25 | Weather watch: We're set for a typical British winter night on Merseyside this evening: cold, grey and miserable. So wrap up warm if you're off to the game.
17:00 | Head to head: Arsenal and Everton have played each other 193 times in total, with the Gunners winning 96 to the Toffees 55 (42 draws).
15:50 | Arsenal, remember, go into tonight's game 2nd in the table after the 3-1 win over Stoke on the weekend. Everton, meanwhile, are down in 9th. Here's the full table.
15:00 | Arsenal plan ahead to a Champions League last 16 tie against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in Feb. 2017. Here's the full draw.
14:30 | Your Premier League team's season so far in a stat !
14:00 | Christmas jumpers are back ahead of the festive period. How do the efforts from Arsenal and Everton perform?
13:10 | Everton fell to Watford for the first time in 30 years on Saturday. Here's how it happened.
12:30 | Despite trailing to the side from SW6, Arsene Wenger dismisses claims that Chelsea are clear favoutrites for the title.
11:45 | Good morning and welcome to our build-up ahead of this evening's Premier League clash from Goodison Park in Liverpool as Everton welcome Arsene Wenger and his high flying Gunners to Walton.
Everton - Arsenal: match preview
Arsenal are undoubtedly (along with Chelsea) the in-form side in the Premier League currently and travel to struggling Everton who have only managed one win in their last ten league fixtures. Arsenal come into tonight's game buoyed after a great week for the club which saw them qualify for the last 16 of the Uefa Champions League as group winners and then secure three valuable points as they saw off Stoke City in their Premier League clash at the Emirates on Saturday.
Everton
A wind of change is blowing through the blue side of Liverpool as the first question marks are slowly starting to emerge among the Toffees faithful over the tenure of Ronald Koeman on the Everton bench. Early season optimism has been wiped away by a disastrous period that have seen Everton just pick up one Premier League win in their last ten attempts.
Everton have the same squad available that travelled to Watford at the weekend, with only Yannick Bolasie and Muhamed Besic (both knee) out through injury but the omens are not good in head to head's against the side from the capital with just one win in the past 18 Premier League matches, that coming in April 2014 with a 3-0 win at Goodison.
Ahead of tonight's fixture Everton boss Koeman stated: "If we keep a compact team we can make it difficult for them. This Arsenal team is one of the favourites to win the title."
Arsenal
The Gunners come into tonight's game knowing that a win will, at least momentarily place them at the summit of the Premier League coming into the packed Christmas fixtures (Chelsea play away to Sunderland tomorrow).
The bad news for Arsenal on the injury front is the news that centre-back Shkodran Mustafi (hamstring) has been ruled out for three weeks and yesterday Arsene Wenger claimed that Aaron Ramsey is not at complete full fitness and will not play any role tonight in Liverpool.
Santi Cazorla (ankle), Danny Welbeck, Per Mertesacker (both knee) and Mathieu Debuchy (hamstring) are the other players sidelined for the side from North London.
Ahead of the visit to Goodison Park, Arsnela first team coach Arsene Wenger stated: "We always prepare well because it’s a very difficult ground. It’s a ground which has a soul and is full of history, and that certainly keeps us on alert."
One piece of data for the curious...Arsenal have not lost a Premier League game on a Tuesday since 2006 !
Everton - Arsenal: expected starting line-ups
Everton XI: Stekelenburg; Coleman, Williams, Jagielka, Baines, Gueye, Barry, Deulofeu, Barkley, Lennon, Lukaku
Arsenal XI: Cech; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Elneny, Walcott, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanchez