Please forgive me for starting this Everton preview with some breaking news concerning Tottenham who, in addition to their new paint sponsor and supplier, have announced a new boot deal which was planned for this year but due to the pandemic, has been carried forward to next season. Apparently a special pair will be presented early to their latest departing manager …..
Just before their pre season friendly against Real Madrid, Ronaldo went into the Madrid changing room to find all his teammates looking a bit glum. “What’s up?” he asked. “Well, we’re having trouble getting motivated for this game. We know it’s important for the fans but it’s only Everton. They’re rubbish and we can’t be bothered.” Ronaldo looked at them and said “Well, I reckon I can beat these by myself, you lads go down the pub.”
So Ronaldo went out to play Everton by himself and the rest of the Madrid team set off for a few jars. After a few pints they wondered how the game was going and asked the landlord to put the teletext on. A big cheer went up as the screen read “Madrid 1 – Everton 0 (Ronaldo 10minutes)”. He was beating Everton all by himself! A few more pints later the game was almost forgotten until someone said “It must be full time now, let’s see how he got on”. They put the teletext back on.
“FT: R Madrid 1 (Ronaldo 10) – Everton 1 (Cahill 89)”
They couldn’t believe it – he had single handedly got a draw against Everton !! They rushed back to the Stadium to congratulate him, but found him in the dressing room, still in his kit, with his head in his hands. He refused to look at them. “I’ve let you down! I’ve let you down!” “Don’t be daft, you got a draw against Everton all by yourself – and they only scored at the very, very end!” “No, no, I have! I’ve let you down… I got sent off after 12 minutes!”
The History Bit
I do actually sense something of an affinity with Everton, which is really borne of the fact that they shared with us the architect of their main stand, Archibald Leitch. As a very young Arsenal fan it sometimes took a second glance just to check I was looking at a picture taken at Highbury and not Goodson Park. At that age they seemed a bit like us, and in some values I think they have remained so. Many other clubs’ stands were also the work of the Glaswegian architect, including Glasgow Rangers, Liverpool, Chelsea, Sunderland, Sheffield United, Aston Villa and, ahem, Tottenham. There were many others besides but, for some strange reason, Everton was always the one that registered with me.
We’ve also shared a few players with Everton over the years. Your memory may be better than mine, but I had forgotten one or two of these – Alan Ball, Francis Jeffers, Theo Walcott, Alex Iwobi, Kevin Campbell, Shkodran Mustafi, Martin Keown, Phillipe Senderos, Richard Wright, Anders Limpar and, of course, Mikel Arteta.
Farhad Moshiri, the ex Red and White Holdings partner of Alisher Usmanov, is now the majority owner of Everton FC, but Red and White Holdings were, of course, the almost 30% shareholders of Arsenal FC, but were denied a seat, and consequently any say, on the board by majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, until they turned their attentions towards the north west around three years ago. A lot of criticism was directed at Usmanov as he vied to gain control of Arsenal, with Kroenke seen by most as the more desirable owner. After the events of this week, it’s hard to imagine how the former of the two could possibly have proven worse.
Since 2017, Usmanov’s USM Holdings have sponsored the Toffees’ training ground and an extension to the deal in the summer of 2019 saw them become Everton’s Official Matchday Presenting Partner, with the MegaFon logo appearing around Goodison Park and on the sleeve of the players’ training kits. What? You’ve never seen an Everton training kit sleeve? Oh well!
The club’s roots loosely lie with a Methodist New Connexion congregation who had a chapel on the corner of Breckfield Road North and St. Domingo Vale in Everton, Liverpool. Initially formed as St. Domingo FC, named after the chapel, the football team was renamed Everton in 1879 after the district of Everton.The club’s nickname, the Toffees, or sometimes the Toffeemen, comes from one of two toffee shops that were located in Everton village at the time the club was founded. Rather than the present day blue and white, the club’s original strip was black and white, a reflection of the locally produced Everton mints.
Everton now follow Arsenal with the second longest pedigree in the top flight, having last been relegated in the 1950-51 season . They were promoted back in 1954, and have remained in the top flight ever since.
The Teams
Arsenal’s current injury list includes Aubameyang, continuing to recover from malaria; Lacazette, left hamstring strain; Luiz, right knee; Tierney, left knee, and Odegaard, right ankle. Of those, only Odegaard will even be assessed ahead of the game, but he is currently only in light training. It seems unlikely he would be risked ahead of the Europa League semi-final – assuming we have not been booted out of the competition by UEFA, following our owner’s regrettable involvement with the proposed and swiftly disintegrated European Super League.
I thought Matt Ryan looked assured in goal last time out but would assume Bernd Leno will return in goal. I will take a stab at the rest of the team but with rotation the name of the current game, it’s anyone’s guess.
Leno
Chambers, Holding, Marí, Xhaka
Partey, Ceballos
Smith-Rowe
Saka, Martinelli, Pépé
Everton currently have injuries to Bernard, Gomes, Calvert -Lewin, Yerri Mina, Delph, Gbamin and Doucoure, although all but the last two could potentially return for this game.
Whatever the teams, Everton’s chances of winning this one were coincidentally summed up by a court case that apparently happened in Liverpool just this week, where a seven-year-old boy was at the centre of a court ruling over who should have custody of him.
The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the law which requires that family unity be maintained to the greatest degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he claimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents, and he flatly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.
After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to Everton Football Club, whom the boy firmly believes are incapable of beating anyone.
The Holic Pound
Despite the above there are still odds available for this one. Paddy Power are offering a miserly 19/20 on a home win, and what seems a fairly standard 12/5 on the draw, and 14/5 on an away win.If you prefer something a bit more enticing on an Arsenal victory, betfair have 6/1, 8/1 and 15/2 respectively on wins of 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1.
The Referee doing his best to keep up with proceedings will be cuddly Jonathan Moss, and the man drawing the lines on the VAR machine will be David Coote. TV coverage is on Sky Sports. Kick off is on Friday 23rd April at 20.00, UK time.
Enjoy the game, Holics.
Surely it’s in your diary by now?
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1970-71 Double with Goonerholics Forever from 3 May.
Charlie, the King of Highbury with that iconic celebration. 24+1 appearances, 10 goals in 1970-71.
From the last drinks.
Contrarian View.
Imagine for a minute you are Stan – you own Arsenal + an NFL team + an NBA team + an NHL (ice hockey) team + an MLS team (USA soccer team) + MLB (baseball {wannabe cricket}) team + a Lacrosse team AND on top of that you are building a new stadium complex in LA. And then out of nowhere the pandemic hits the world – your gameday revenue is wiped out across your whole portfolio for more than a year.
What would you do if there is a possibility of getting a good chunk of change from one of your asserts?
The Man U guys own an NFL team.
Pool guys own a MLB baseball team.
Imagine that!!
Top form, Trev. We need a smile or two after the past few days.
Cheers Trev! Well played – I think after this week we could all do with a laugh. You’ve delivered as always!
Inspired preview, Sir.
Blessed light relief after the journey into the Inferno this week.
Point taken on Silent Stan’s diminished cash flow, TD, but I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth has increased by $1.5 billion so far this year to $9.8 billion. It was $8.4 billion 12 months ago, which suggests, to your point, that he got a smidgen poorer in 2020. If he is short of a bob or two for a pint, he can probably tap Mrs K. At $6.0 billion, her net worth has risen by $500 million over the past year.
Thanks Trev for bringing the levity and humor in your inimitable style. Enjoyed it very much.
Once upon a time, not in that distant future even, we used to beat Everton as a habit, no matter who was or who wasn’t playing. There was a memorable 6-1 (if I remember correctly) season opener away at Goodison where Denilson scored a long ranger that Arsène described in his post-match review as “Brazilian”. 😂
Hoping for a convincing victory to go into the Europa semifinal with confidence. Why not a clean sheet as well? 3-0 to the mighty Arsenal with our current Brazilian running rampant.
Barcelona statement on the ESL suggests ‘the project’ (when did everything in football become a ‘project’?) is far from dead and implicitly warns UEFA and La Liga to back off from intimidating those trying to ‘improve the product offered to fans around the world’ — wording that seems particularly tone-deaf given the backlash of the past few days.
https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/club/news/2114445/fc-barcelona-announcement-on-the-super-league
Top stuff Trev , amusing and informative . Just what we need apart from a morale- raising victory . We have got an excellent record against them at home and the win against them last year in February was my last visit to the Home of Football. Auba’s clever header just after half-time was the last goal I’ve seen us score live .
Everton have been very kind to us off the field too paying very generous fees for Walcott and Iwobi . After Sunday’s debacle when we almost lost at home to Fulham allied to our awful home form and with eyes on next week’s Europa League semi I can’t see us doing better than a draw
According to the Evening Standard – a reasonably reliable source – Vinai Venkatesham has been asked to step down from his role at the club.So has Bruce Buck at Chelsea
Good stuff, Trev. A therapeutic mood lightening read.
TTG @9, no surprise there. It’s typical of a cowardly egotistical leader to sacrifice an acolyte when the shit hits the fan. Both those CEO’s are culpable but they clearly aren’t responsible for the plan or the fiasco. The buck clearly stops at Kroenke in Arsenal’s case and probably Abramovich in Chavski’s. Stan’s crisis management strategy is clearly 1) hide behind son (go talk at the proles, son – spin them some of that stuff you learnt on the course in Hollywood); 2) sacrifice Vinai – it’s his fault, honest – he persuaded us! To be fair, Vinai has come out with some arrant nonesense in the past few days. Clearly not a man you would rely on to invest your retirement savings.
If you haven’t read Tim Stillman’s piece on Arseblog as recommended in the last Drinks by C100, do. It’s up there with the best analyses of the mortifying effect of the dead hand of Stan Kroenke and his cronies.
Kroenke out
Thank you for your kind words, fellas.
It was a bit of fun to write amidst all the mud slinging in the media all week. It was fortunate that I was too busy to get involved in firstly, the abomination of an idea to create a closed league of franchises – with no relegation, where is the risk and the motivation that makes a sport competitive ? – and second, the climb downs and weasel words of those sent out by cowardly owners to try to paper over some irreparable cracks.
I still want to hold on to the belief that those actions were not Arsenal Football Club but those of an owner who shows no understanding or enthusiasm for the institution he has taken out of the hands of those who supported it for many, many decades.
Belated thanks to Clock End Rider for a thought provoking read which I have only just had time to catch up with.
Bath,
Stillman’s piece is excellent. One of the best of many on this accursed subject but particularly good on the rank incompetence of the Kroenkes. They have been a disaster.
Something has been lost in translation on Vinai and Buck. It looks like they are leaving Premier League Committees not their clubs .
I think we have to find a way to separate our love for Arsenal from our dislike for Kroenke but it has been a very weird week . One of my football-mad grandsons was extremely distressed on Monday night seeing the game he loved in a state of collapse . His distress was very disturbing and he still feels ‘ football is broken’. I think he might have a point
“We know it will take time to restore your faith in what we are trying to achieve here at Arsenal”
Not at all, I have total faith in your mission to make us completely fucking mediocre, on and off the pitch.
Hi and bye drink, hope all are well. Unless you have a single good word to say about ESL, in which case may all your beers be stale. You rotters.
Football as we knew it has been breaking for at least 25 years, blow by blow, through actions and inaction by the bodies entrusted with its welfare.
Football has become a South Sea Bubble economically and both the SL and UEFA’s new proposals are about attempting to sustain the growth of that bubble with in the UEFA proposal, more income from more games. The Super League’ major moral flaw is that it is about sustaining the bubble’s growth as an elitist cartel for some of the most fiscally incontinent and therefore economically exposed ‘big clubs’. Perez moans that Real can’t afford Haaland without the SL. So what? Other clubs are entitled to have good players and Perez must learn that if you can’t afford a Rolls Royce you have to content yourself with a Fiat.
FIFA, UEFA, the PL and the big clubs are addicted to the bubble like crack heads to their fix and will not make the changes necessary to make their competitions open and equitable without weighting them in favour of the powerful clubs nor will they avert the massive economic crash that is the inevitable consequence of their greed. Sadly the game as we knew it is probably dead.
Hey Cynic,
Don’t be a stranger. Good to see you dropping in.
What Trev said @15.
Hi Cynic
Most of us have absolutely nothing good to say about ESL or our current off-field management or our owners . You needn’t worry!
Nice to see you !
Who else but the Bar Physio could give us a potted history of our next opponents, and throw in a couple of music hall jokes centered around the same Club.
A pre match summary that is far too good for the fare to come tomorrow.
Despite Mikel’s fairytale delusions that we can still make Europe via the league, the players and any sensible Arse supporters know he’s dreaming, and the only games that really matter are on the next 2 Thursdays.
So unless Everton are so incompetent, and significantly worse than little old Fulham, then I won’t be holding my breath for a favorable result.
If I had my way, I would be fielding the under 23’s tomorrow.
The only ray of light is that we have never lost a Friday night fixture.
Yet
Amusing stuff, thanks Trev👍
Like you, I’ve no idea who will play though your XI looks a fair stab.
Think we might see Eddie start though at CF given MA brought him on against Fulham and he got a late goal. Might see Balogun on the bench too.
So much angst.
3-0 no problem.
UTA
Good call on Nketiah starting, OM. Martinelli on the left and Saka on the right with Pepe on the bench, though Saka could do with a rest.
Meanwhile back at the publicity machine…
Are the owners committed to making Arsenal the force they were in England 50 years ago?
Celebrate the anniversary of the 1970-71 Double with Goonerholics Forever!
Ray Kennedy scores the winner at WHL. Just 19, 55 appearances, 23 goals!
Great stuff Trev.
After the week we have just had, who knows what will happen tonight. At least the game means something again.
Nice to see you here Cynic.
Smashing preview Trev, even enjoyed the jokes 😉
It’ll be good to get back to proper football tonight. A few players missing so selection in one or two areas very open but your ideas are a very good each way bet. The toffees are virtually back to full strength so a win for us will be a good result – 2-1 is the best I can hope for. COYR
Hey Trev, I’d love to see Jose in those boots but it’s just as good as you’ve conjured the image. Thanks for an enjoyable preview and history. Jokes were also half decent, most of them. 🙂
Home matches in front of nearly 60,000 empty seats haven’t been easy for us but hoping against hope this one turns out different. We must keep at it.
More ESL buck-passing:
Daniel Pinto, head of JPMorgan Chase’s corporate and investment bank, whose leveraged finance unit arranged the $4.8 billion of funding for the ESL, tells Bloomberg We arranged a loan for a client. It’s not our place to decide the optimal way for football to operate in Europe and the U.K….It is clear we misjudged the magnitude of feeling that this deal would create…In the end, football fans were heard loud and clear, and that’s what matters most.
Although what probably matters most to the bank is the foregone millions of dollars in fees and interest payments it would have earned had the ESL gone ahead.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/jpmorgan-s-pinto-breaks-silence-on-super-league-talks-spacs (probably behind a paywall).
The bank’s clients include the Glazers (Woodward worked at the bank when advising the Glazers on buying Man Utd), Perez at Real Madrid and several of the would-be breakaway clubs.
Leno, Chambers, Holding, Mari, Xhaka, Ceballos, Partey, Saka, Pepe, Nketiah
Subs: Ryan, Bellerin, Cedric, Gabriel, Elneny, Odegaard, Willian, Nelson, Martinelli
Missing one?
+ ESR apparently
Arsenal: Leno, Chambers, Holding, Mari, Xhaka, Ceballos, Partey, Saka, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Nketiah
Subs: Ryan, Bellerin, Cedric, Gabriel, Elneny, Odegaard, Willian, Nelson, Martinelli
Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Godffrey, Holgate, Digne, Allan, Gomes, Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin, Rodriguez, Richarlison
Subs: Olsen, Mina, Nkounkou, Delph, Davies, Broadhead, Iwobi, Bernard, King
Good to see Ødegaard fit enough to at least be on the bench.
Cheers Esso!
Thanks all, hope it was a bit of fun,
Now for the important stuff – Come on You Redddsss !
COYG!
Go win, boys!
Re: JPMorgan Chase. Hiss and boo!!
COYG!!!
Come on you Gunners! Up the Arsenal and Kroenke out!
Strong front foot start
Nov 5th outside!
Good pressing from the lads.
Unlucky Saka come on
Good defending from Chambers
You can hear those helicopters outside the ground.
Partey needs to sort those passes out
C100 you certainly can 🤣
Good save from Leno
Stop playing it backwards come on and good save from Leno
Two evenly matched teams here.
Partey does it again
And gets booked in the process
Foul yes, yellow?
Jon Moss needs to be retired. He is dire.
Partey red card incoming from Jon Moss second half.
We had the greater share of possession but they forced a good save from Leno and hit the cross bar. So, good to be even at half time.
This game is tighter than a duck’s arse. You can see why these teams are seek by jowl in the table. Little between them. We need to produce the touch of magic to break the seal.
Meanwhile the yellow card for TP18 was ridiculous. Moss couldn’t wait to wave it.
Go for it Daniel Ek!
VAR looking at penalty for foul on Ceballos. But they will call it for off side against Pepe.
No penalty. So many ways to screw Arsenal.
How was that offside ffs
What nonsense. The obvious offside of Coleman before the award of a corner that might have led to a goal for Everton wsn’t assessed by VAR but this penalty was disallowed because of a ludicrous degree of pixel analysis.
Looking good at the moment.
Good chance for Calum!
Time for Martinelli and Odegaard to come on.
Xhaka back passes so much, kills the initiative and the attacking impetus.
Odegaard for Pepe is a surprise.
Oh shit. Poor Leno.
Leno makes a horrendous mistake and we are behind when we had everything going our way.
Shocking ineptitude.
We will play our slow sideways passing and never get anywhere.
Looks like we will finish in the bottom half if we keep playing like this. Europa our only chance to salvage the season.
Well we handed it to them. All about Europa league now.
Meh!
Pissed off
Come on Man City . The Scum winning would make the perfect weekend .
Just when you think we can’t find another way to lose a game, we do.
That is the second time Leno has been nutmegged for a goal. But given how many times he has bailed us out this season, it is hard to get enraged at him. And Xhaka had two opportunities to stop Richarlison from getting through. If you make mistakes or miss your chances, let alone do both, you get punished in this league.
Another “one off” performance. How many more do we have to put up with?
Very bored with it now.
It wasn’t something completely different after all. Just the same old same old.
That was a poor way to spend a couple of hours.
We were always going to struggle
to score minus Laca and Auba.
Both sides toothless and we let
in the soft goal sums it up really.
Calum missed a great chance but I
can’t blame our RB for his finishing
as in these situations you need Pepe,
Saka, Eddie, Gabi, ESR, Willian,
Ødegaard to step up but none of
did or could.
On we go and with a semi final to look
forward to so it’s not all bad folks 😉
If they put in another shift like today’s, there won’t be anything to look forward to after the semi, OM
“On we go and with a semi final to look
forward to so it’s not all bad”
Are you actually real? I mean, are you physically with us on this planet?
SSY,
Finally, a clear and easy to understand
comment!
That sadly I won’t bother to reply to,
ironic really
OM
Fine Gooners like you are to be commended for your positivity and loyalty . I feel huge loyalty and no positivity whatsoever . It was another awful, utterly woeful performance at home. We’ve got into double figures now, After end stage Wenger and the late Emery years we had a febrile atmosphere in the ground which spoilt matches for me . The atmosphere Arteta would face if fans were back would be somewhere between lifeless ( End Wenger ) and despair ( End Emery ) .
If we always played away from home we might make the. Champions League . If we played every game at the Grove relegation would beckon . Paying £1500 to Stan Kroenke to watch fare this awful with the agonies of VAR thrown in. Yeah right
We were mediocre at best again as you say TTG. And it’s possible I’d feel different if I was there but to be honest I was there for the mediocrity of the 70s and 80s and stayed positive then so probably not 😉
At a rough estimate we’ve been poor, so-so and good for about a third each this season.
But that ratio has been a little better in bigger games and so I’m hopeful we can win the EL, we’ll see. Either way, I’ll look forward to next season – super or not😀
Good on you Matt .
The penalty that never was. Ignoring the offside for a minute, do people think that was a penalty or not? Was there sufficient contact for a pen? I’m just interested in what people’s views are.
No. Yet they are given against us. He didn’t get an award of a pen when he tried to stay on his feet earlier in the match when he was fouled in the box. What’s a fella to do?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>