Everton successfully beat Arsenal with a score of 2-1 in the Premier League match at Goodison Park on Sunday (20/12).
Everton managed to score the first goal in the 22nd minute through Rob Holding’s own goal. This goal came from Dominic Calvert Lewin’s effort to greet a cross into the penalty box.
Calvert-Lewin’s header hit Holding and instead sent the ball into Arsenal’s goal.
After conceding, Arsenal tried to suppress the Everton defense. The Gunners’ efforts paid off in the 35th minute when they got a penalty.
Tom Davies’ carelessness, who kicked Ainsley Maitland-Niles, had to be paid handsomely by Everton. Nicolas Pepe managed to outwit Jordan Pickford to make it 1-1.
At the end of the first half, Calvert-Lewin gave Arsenal a serious threat. Calvert-Lewin’s shot is found in the right corner of the net but is well denied by Leno.
After that failure, Everton successfully took advantage of a corner kick. The corner that was released by Gylfi Sigurdsson was successfully headed by Yerry Mina who also climbed forward. The score changed 2-1 at the end of the first half.
Entering the second half, Arsenal tried to be more aggressive in putting pressure on the Everton defense. In the 54th minute, David Luiz’s hard shot in the penalty box still hits the bar.
Arsenal were able to lock Everton’s defense through domination of possession, while Everton chose to counterattack through Richarlison, Sigurdsson and Calvert-Lewin’s movements.
Arsenal’s efforts to find an equalizer continued until the game entered the final minutes of the match. Mikel Arteta has also included substitutes namely Joseph Willock, Gabriel Martinelli and Alexandre Lacazette.
In the 87th minute, Joe Willock’s header was wide on the right side of Pickford’s goal.
Arsenal try to continue to press in the remaining time available. During injury time, Arsenal had a chance through Bukayo Saka’s shot but Pickford was able to block it.
The match ended in a 2-1 win for Everton. With this result, Arsenal failed to move from 15th in the standings. Even though they lost, Mikel Arteta said that his team performed quite well in this match, even dominating it.
Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta, said his team lost again in the Premier League because they were not lucky.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. “We lost football games because of us, it had nothing to do with the opponent,” Arteta told Arsenal.com.
“Against Burnley we lost the game without taking a kick on our goal, believe it or not.
“Today again you can see how the team tried and how they played with our limitations, but they always try and fight, and I can’t blame the players at all.”
The defeat to Everton means Arsenal are winless in their last seven Premier League matches. Even so, Arteta emphasized that his team must immediately get up to improve the situation.
“Obviously this is a very complicated situation, but I am very encouraged from what I see in the players to continue to do what we are trying to do,” he continued.
“We thought of course we have to improve, but I think we were very, very unlucky not to get more points.”
