Blues blunt Gunners on Ancelotti anniversary

Everton 2 v Arsenal 1: Match Report

By Matt Townsend: On The Banks Of The Royal Blue Mersey Journalist

Everton maintained their fine recent form and defeated Arsenal 2-1 at Goodison Park yesterday to give manager Carlo Ancelotti a great anniversary present – three points and second place in the Premier League.

Going into this game it was almost exactly a year since the Italian took over the reigns at Everton and just like that sunny day in December 2019, the Toffees opponents were again Arsenal.

The manager had a few selection issues to resolve. First of all, who was going to replace injured Brazilian midfielder Allan and then who would start in goal, would Ancelotti stick with Robin Olsen or give Jordan Pickford the jersey again?

Ancelotti brought Tom Davies into midfield in place of Andre Gomes who dropped out and decided to restore Pickford in goal.
The game started slowly the Blues looked a little tired, not surprisingly and a tepid Arsenal offered very little. It was easy to see why Mikel Arteta is under so much pressure.

The Toffees were missing the creative spark of Lucas Digne and James Rodriguez and laboured to create chances. There wasn’t much action in either penalty area and neither side looked very threatening. But it was the home team who scored first.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin who had another outstanding, hard-working match up front flicked the ball goal wards and it cannoned off Gunners defender Rob Holding and into the net.

Everton looked pretty comfortable at that point but then conceded a soft penalty to give Arsenal a way back into the game.
Just like the last game at Leicester a Blues player kicked out a leg and brought down an opponent in the box. This time it was Davies and unlike Wednesday when Gomes had been the culprit, the spot kick was given.

However, Everton didn’t lose their composure and were ahead again on the stroke of halftime as the excellent Yerry Mina rose to head home from a corner.

In the second half Arsenal were better, in truth they could hardly have been worse and put the Toffees defence under considerable pressure. But the back-four was again rock solid with Ben Godfrey absolutely superb at left-back.

The Blues were tiring and fell back defending deeper all the time but held on for the points and a 100% record in these three matches that looked a tough run, on paper anyway.

Standout players were Abdoulaye Doucoure who was again immense in the middle of the park, the two centre-backs Mina and Micheal Keane as well as Godfrey, my man-of-the-match.

So a great way for Ancelotti to celebrate 12 months in charge at Goodison Park. Roll on Wednesday and that Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United.