Arsenal fell to only their second defeat of the Premier League season on Saturday lunchtime, losing 1-0 away at Sean Dyche’s Everton.
The Toffees, buoyed by the new manager bounce, bullied Arsenal at times, out running and out hustling the Gunners in the middle of the park throughout the 90 minutes. When defending, Everton were compact in their mid and low blocks in true Dyche style, frustrating Arsenal.
The Gunners were unable to find any sort of rhythm with the ball seeming to hold up on every pass, restricting their ability to play through Everton as they have done to so many teams this season.
When Arsenal click into gear and their passing game comes off, they are unplayable, but inevitably there will be days where they are unable to pull it off, and on Saturday they had no alternative to change the game, and it cost them.
For the first time since his injury, Gabriel Jesus was clearly missed with his unpredictable movement and energy to cause chaos among the Everton defenders, while Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli struggled to create any magic in wide areas.
Alongside the front line struggling, captain Martin Odegaard, later replaced by Fabio Vieira, and Granit Xhaka failed to make an impact, lacking the dynamism and quick feet to resist the Everton press.
In the forward areas, Arsenal surprisingly looked out of ideas.
Whether it be shape or personnel, Mikel Arteta needs to formulate a Plan B for when the main tactic clearly isn’t coming off.
Sticking with Plan A paid off against Manchester United a few weeks back, but against Everton, and Newcastle earlier in 2023, Arsenal showed few signs of overcoming a resolute, compact defence.
Adding movement and energy through the likes of Jesus and Emile Smith Rowe would have been a boost, but given the tools at his disposal, Arteta needs to figure out different ways to stretch, play through, out muscle, and out run the opposition, otherwise we’ll see repeats of Everton and Newcastle during the run-in.
Manchester City losing at Tottenham the following day was a welcome boost, as Arsenal host seventh-placed Brentford at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon looking to bounce back and restore an eight-point lead at the top of the table.
Source:hamhigh.co.uk
