{"id":13025,"date":"2026-03-13T20:37:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13025"},"modified":"2026-03-15T00:13:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:13:02","slug":"protege-to-school-his-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13025","title":{"rendered":"Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to School his Teacher?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Merseyside hordes of Everton FC are expected at the Grove on Saturday evening in what has become a vital match in Arsenal\u2019s season.  Due to Arsenal\u2019s commitments in the three other competitions they won\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s season it would be just the time for the prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to outthink his teacher once more.  After Arsenal stretched their lead at the top in last Wednesday\u2019s 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<\/strong>

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\u2019s \u2018Champions League contenders\u2019 Newcastle and (ahem!) Tottenham.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal team news<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leandro Trossard and Martin \u00d8degaard 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\u2019s only long-term injury concern.  With Merino, \u00d8degaard 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\u2019s 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 \u00d8degaard\u2019s absence and Saka\u2019s 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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber Saliba Gabriel Hincapi\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eze Zubimendi Rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madueke Gy\u00f6keres Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game if you can, \u2018holics, 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\u2019t half leave us sitting on a pretty perch indeed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Merseyside hordes of Everton FC are expected at the Grove on Saturday evening in what has become a vital match in Arsenal\u2019s season.  Due to Arsenal\u2019s commitments in the three other competitions they won\u2019t have the opportunity to pick up more Premier League points until April 11th, so this first of eight remaining league […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13025"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13035,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13025\/revisions\/13035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}