The Merseyside hordes of Everton FC are expected at the Grove on Saturday evening in what has become a vital match in Arsenal’s season. Due to Arsenal’s commitments in the three other competitions they won’t have the opportunity to pick up more Premier League points until April 11th, so this first of eight remaining league fixtures certainly has the feel of a must-win game in their title push. The match comes sandwiched between the two-legged Champions League last 16 matchup with Bayer Leverkusen where the Gunners drew draw 1-1 on Wednesday, and the return leg at home this Tuesday.
To this point Mikel Arteta has had much the better of his meetings with his old manager David Moyes (against Everton and the other teams Moyes managed in that time), winning 7 of his 11 league games and suffering just one defeat. At this critical juncture in Arsenal’s season it would be just the time for the protégé to outthink his teacher once more. After Arsenal stretched their lead at the top in last Wednesday’s narrow win at Brighton, they have an opportunity to do so again, even if momentarily, with rivals Cheaty facing West Ham later in the day on Saturday.
The up and coming opposition
After consecutive victories at Newcastle and home against Burnley, Everton now occupy 8th position in the Premier League table with 43 points, or only 5 points fewer than Chelsea who are currently clinging to a Europa League spot, but 4 and 14 points more respectively than this season’s ‘Champions League contenders’ Newcastle and (ahem!) Tottenham.
By defeating Burnley, the Toffees broke a streak of 7 consecutive home games without a win, but their undefeated run of 7 consecutive away games has Everton in contention to qualify for Europe, at least via the Conference League, if they don’t manage to overtake the Chavs. Everton last lost an away league contest on December 13 at Stamford Bridge, and they rang up victories at Newcastle, Fulham, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest during that stretch.
Young striker Thierno Barry scored the late winner at Newcastle, has looked a handful on the few occasions I have seen Everton play this season, and might have already made a few Everton fans less regretful that their former striker Calvert-Lewin has been one of the league’s top strikers this season playing for Leeds United.
Everton at the Emirates under David Moyes generally try to keep things tight at the back, with captain Tarkowski and company doing their all to mop up any chances Arsenal manage to create. The Toffees will have had plenty of time to prepare for this game, with only league fixtures to worry about after failing to qualify for Europe due to last season’s 13th place league finish, as well as their FA Cup exit to Sunderland in January, and their Carabao Cup exit to Wolves in September. But the return of Moyes and the opening of their new stadium have considerably brightened the outlook for those wearing blue on Merseyside, compared to this time last season.
Everton team news
The Everton squad should be refreshed following a 10-day break since their last match, and massive defender Jarrad Branthwaite will be available while the rest of the squad is largely fit. That means we can expect to see important roles played by the likes of Dewsbury-Hall, Garner, Ndiaye and Gueye in the midfield area, with Tarkowski a near ever-present at the back.
Arsenal team news
Leandro Trossard and Martin Ødegaard missed the first leg at Leverkusen through injury and their availability continues to be assessed, but Ben White returned to the bench in Germany, so Mikel Merino remains Arsenal’s only long-term injury concern. With Merino, Ødegaard and even Bukayo Saka not contributing as much to the cause this winter as many had hoped they would be able to do, the manager’s selection options are fewer. But since Eze and Madueke are more rested and have shown us tantalizing glimpses of what they are capable, they may remain in the team in Ødegaard’s absence and Saka’s sluggishness. As for the remainder, I expect the team to be similar to the one we saw play at Brighton, and for Arteta to rest any players in the second half who he expects we will need to get us over the line against Leverkusen a few days later. Thus, against the Toffees we will probably see a team like:
Raya
Timber Saliba Gabriel Hincapié
Eze Zubimendi Rice
Madueke Gyökeres Martinelli
Enjoy the game if you can, ‘holics, although as we have seen in recent weeks it may not be straightforward, easy, or pretty. Three points will be golden on the day, not to say that 24 points in our last 8 fixtures wouldn’t half leave us sitting on a pretty perch indeed.
Not to get ahead of myself though. Grit, focus and those precious three points are the order of the day. Nothing more and (please) nothing less. We have come so far, but now is when we must deliver the goods.
Top preview mate!
Sort of come in here now and again and I really respect this place.
Miss Dave so much.
xxx
Esso! You’re one of us, and we love hearing from you. COYG!
Cheers, bt8 !
A Moyes team is always hard to play against and this one will be no exception. I hope we can be brave enough to really go at them from the off and not let them settle into their own game plan. A goal or two from sweeping moves in open play would be ideal and a great confidence boost to our understandably hesitant players. If it has to be a goal from another set piece, well that’s great too. Any win at this stage. Any win.
Greetings Esso ! Love hearing from you mate !
Bt8
Thanks for a fine preview . The rest of the season is likely to age us significantly and it will be a really hard game tomorrow. Moyes is the master of the low block and they frustrated us last year. They have an awful record at our place but we have to produce the energy and invention that will be necessary to get past a very robust defence and canny tactical approach .
I think Dowman has a part to play in the run-in but we need goals, concentration and lots of luck over the next two months. Strap yourself in for a wild ride beginning with a 1-0 win secured by a late goal tomorrow
Top preview bt8. Your team may be spot on but I think we may see White (if fit) and Calafiori rather than Timber and Hincapié as they add more offensive threat to their defensive strength. Despite his added extra productivity against Leverkusen, I don’t expect Madueke to start in place of star boy but I wouldn’t be surprised if Havertz started instead of Eze and played close to Gyökeres. This is the first of three difficult and crucial games each of which will have a huge impact on our season. We need to speed up our build ups to maximise our chance of winning each. I’ll happily take 2-0 to the Arsenal in each of them but will likely have no fingernails or hair left.
COYG
Bath. I wouldn’t mind at all seeing Blanco and Calafiori in the starting team, which could provide some much needed refreshment. But Arteta will let us know soon enough.
A great big clean sheet would be most useful in this particular situation so cutting out defensive errors will be crucial.
An excellent preview, bt8. Your last sentence is the money shot.
They are all must-wins now, so three points anyhoo is the order of the day. I’d love it if Mystic Trev is right and we sweep in a couple of early, free-flowing goals en route to a stress-free win, but, like others, I fear Moyes will make it a game in which we will have to grind out a victory.
It is almost certain that we shan’t see Ødegaard and unlikely that we’ll see Trossard.
Also, a footnote to the charts profiling Alvarez and Jesus that I posted in the previous drinks. I should have sourced them to Opta’s data. No monks were involved in their preparation.
Esso@1: Always good to see you in.
Thanks bt8, excellent preview of what you’d expect will
be another tight game given Moyes general approach
at The Arsenal. As you say @6 a clean sheet would be a
good boost to start a big week. I think we may surprise
our nervous support with a nice 3-0 home win today,
Everton are due an away defeat after all 😃
In terms of the team selection I think we need to start
using the squad even more now and
look at it as a kind of block of three with Leverkusen
and Carabao over the next week. I expect to see
Ben, Cala, Noni, Kai all starting at least once over those
three games plus possibly Norgaard, Mosquera,
and a returning Leo and Ode too.
No idea which ones in which games though, and
of course Max is a wild card that we can use off
the bench in any game now.
SP asked in midweek would you use Max off the bench
for the last 10 minutes…. I meant to say yes at the time
but I was too busy biting my nails! Maybe MA thought away
in Germany wasn’t the place but home might be a different
story.
Thanks bt8 for a fine preview. As everyone expects this will be another tight match. The toffees are close to full strength and their big defenders won’t be tacking any prisoners in a low block counter att@cking mode. This has led to a very successful away record and the opposite of their home form where they are expected to show some attacking intent.
This is a continuation of a must win scenario which will,pervade until season’s end. A hard fought narrow win seems favourite but getting the 3 points will be very welcome.
COYRRR
Thanks a lot bt8 for an excellent preview! Also thanks to CER for a detailed and atmosphere description of the Leverkusen match. It was a difficult game, but the team handled the psychological aspect of the challenge well enough, especially when the collective and individual technical levels were noticeably below their standards.
Protégé I guess etymologically — from the verb protéger — would have meant someone who has been protected. While the contemporary English usage to mean that someone who has been guided/mentored is a perfect description of Arteta’s relationship to Moyes, it can be argued that in his playing days as the Everton’s creative hub and often their main inspiration on the field Mikel had also protected his guru from many a poor results. To a certain degree, all three managers he cites as his main influences have benefitted from his skill and steel. Arsène and Pep included.
We just have to find a way to win. The home crowd should definitely help. It will also help to be faster in transition and quicker with the ball. I think your team is the likeliest, but if White and Calafiori are both fit, why not start with them? I liked the little glimpses of what we have seen with Havertz as genuine 10 just behind Gyökeres, but I guess Kai is being handled with lot of care now and won’t start a game which would be rather physical in the new-old-fashioned English football kind of way. Saka on the bench or tried again as the right sided 8?
If either one of Kai/Saka is fit enough to start, this is what I would like to see the following starting line-up
Raya
White-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori
Saka/Kai-Zubimendi-Rice
Madueke-Gyökeres-Eze
Calafiori’s unpredictable movements to help open up spaces for Eze who can open up the left side.
I think (hope?) the team’s performance will pleasantly surprise us all tomorrow.
Come on Arsenal!
Thanks bt8
Another game that has a nervy 1-0 written all over it. Just what I don’t need at 3.30 in the morning, so I’ll be watching a re-run a couple of hours later.
UTA
Yeah, Noosa, you can’t beat a nervy, exhausting 5.30 in the morning! 😱🤣
Trev
You’re right. I might leave it till 6.00.
UTA
You’ve nailed that one bt8. Spot on.
Tough game but so important. Kai Havertz is huge for us. If we can get him playing 70 mins for most of our remaining fixtures then we will have much better chances than if he’s only playing 20, or heaven forbid, gets injured again. I’d also like to see Eze on the left wing, with Havertz at 10. Whatever the gaffer decides, let’s hope for some fluid moments in attack. We don’t need to be premium Barcelona, but moving the ball a bit quicker would make such a difference.
Always a pleasure, Esso. Top man.
UTA!
Like most, I expect a very nervy, tense encounter. I’ll be in the stadium for the game where managing the tension and nerviness is a little easier than doing so on the settee – group angst rules. However, that’s only the case if our crowd remains supportive no matter what. If group nerviness and dark negativity emerges, the ‘home crowd advantage’ suddenly transfers in favour of the opposition and their fans.
Stay positive people. Bring it on home, Arsenal.
Nice job, bt8.
We miss Merino so much. How much would we rather see him crashing the box to get on the end of things than Timber? I love Timber, but he’s not the guy I want on the end of crosses.
Cheers bt8.Another gritty win? That would have to do.
I’d gladly accept a 4-0 trouncing of the Blue Scousers though.
Essooooo ! Get yourself in here more often, mate. You have a lot to contribute ❤️
On another, fairly trivial note, I was wondering whether Arteta still calls Moyes “boss” when they meet up …?
GSD – you’re dead right. I said weeks – feels like months already – ago that Merino would be a huge miss. He’s always available to take the pass in midfield, very rarely gives the ball away, a big threat on goal from open play and set pieces. Massively under appreciated player. Well, no longer I suspect.
I’m going today with Miss B, to whom, many years ago due to work commitments, I gave my ticket for this fixture, during Moyes’ first spell at the Toffees. We won 7-0 and I’ve always regretted missing that match. I hope she proves a lucky charm and I’m not going to be greedy and am perfectly happy to accept 2-0 or 3-0 to the Arsenal.
It’s nice to see the lesser spotted Esso nip into the bar. Haste ye back, fella!
GSD@18 & Trev@21: spot on about Merino. Not only do we miss his abilities, especially his composed finishing, but also his minutes, which would have given his fellow midfielders more desperately needed time to put their feet up. I suspect part of the flatness in how we are playing at present is down to the mental and physical weariness of Rice and Zubimendi, who are having to be played just about all the time. Dr. F’s promotion of Saka playing as an 8 and the much-anticipated deployment of MLS in midfield are both ideas that could be usefully pursued in that regard.
Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori
Zubimendi, Rice, Eze
Saka, Madueke, Havertz.
Bench: Arrizabalaga, White, Hincapie, Lewis-Skelly, Mosquera, Martinelli, Dowman, Gyokeres, Jesus.
No room on the bench for Nørgaard, or yet another one gone in the fetlock? Not many options for midfield substitutions.
COYG
Here we go subs on to make a difference. Otherwise…. Dowman last 15.
Not tuning in to games until the 89th minute seems the stress-free way to go.
SP@27: On the money. Subs win it.
Thanks Jordan. And the subs do make a difference.
MAX
Get the ever loving fuck in!
Never a doubt. 🤣😅🤣😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I just hope that Arteta continues to manage Dowman’s development as carefully as he has been so that the youngster evolves into the Rolls-Royce of a player that Arteta has made Saliba. Such prodigious talent must not be burned out early.
Being sung in the Holloway Road
Super, super Max!
Super, super Max!
Super, super Max!
Super Maxie Dowman!
Agent Mavro doing a job
Don’t hold out much hope for Wham of course
but now that I’m breathing again and not
screaming incoherently at the telly I can say
well stood in the right place VG and yeah just
Super Max
Max! 16 years old and provided two unforgettable moments that could prove pivotal to our season.
Well done WHam!
OM@37: Oh, ye of little faith!
@39 my bad 😂
Great day for us
Think I will watch that last 10 minutes agan now, with my eyes open
this time
I’m coming up to my 65th anniversary of watching Arsenal.
That Dowman moment has to be one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever experienced.
It means a lot but it’s what it portends for the future as well
Just watched the Dowman’s goal again on replay. Marvellous moment that will last long in the memory. He also made the beating of two defenders before getting clear look a lot easier than it was. Silky balance, especially in beating the last man. Kudos to Martinelli, too, for winning the header that set Max on his way and a bit of discreet blocking of Everton’s defenders so they had no chance of catching him.
The other memorable moment of the game was Calafiori’s scorpion block in the first half. Quite remarkable, not to say unique, defending.
Yeah, me too Ned. Unbelievable composure at his age, Gabi M did well too and a shout to Vik, I think, as well for winning the first header from the corner.
Also a shout to Raya as well for his 20th clean sheet and to MA for the subs today.
I could see why Everton have such a good away record today.
They made it very difficult for us. I have often laid into Moyes
since he left Everton the first time but, fair play to him,
he’s done a good job since he went back and they look
like a top half team again.
>>>>>>>