Everton 1-4 Arsenal – 29/12/07 – (Premier League) 30 December, 2007
Posted by lasagnechef in Premiership.trackback
Well what a strange game that was. On a day when Manchester United lost to West Ham we had the chance to re-claim our place at the top and go two points clear. We did revert back to 4-4-2 and Bendtner got that starting place everyone was hoping for. He was partnered with Eduardo and Adebayor was given a well deserved rest, as was Rosicky who had Diaby take his place on the left wing.
We started really badly. The first half was very poor. Everton were making the most of this and were playing good, confident football and just knocking it around us like we weren’t there. They were putting pressure on us and after 20 minutes they won a corner, packed the box and scored. The corner came in to the back post, came off Bendtner’s knee and Cahill put it in with his studs.
The home side deserved the early lead and we were getting very frustrated. We didn’t get any better as the half went on, Everton carried on pressuring us with their one-touch football and I was really worried. Half time came and if we carried on playing like this in the second 45 then we had no chance. No one was making any difference for us and something would have to be changed if we didn’t sort ourselves out.
However, we got an early goal in the second half to bring us right back in it. In the 47th minute Clichy picked up the ball deep on the left and played a great long ball, which fell absolutely perfectly into Eduardo’s stride. The Croatian/Brazilian shoed great skill and composure to take it down with his chest then lift it over Howard. 1-1 now and we were right back in it, did we deserve to be? Who cares?
We managed a second goal just ten minutes later and it was the same combination. Clichy had possession on the left once again and looked to pick out Eduardo. His was another good one which was helped on by the head of Bendtner. Eduardo made sure he got there first, skillfully passed the defender (sort of like Bergkamp did in that goal against Newcastle) and cool as you like slotted it in. These two goals are a fine example of what a top goal scorer this guy is. He’s probably the best finisher we have and cane handle himself better than anyone inside the box, it’s just everywhere else he needs to work on. He’s sort of like, give him the ball in the box and he’ll stick it in.
The fact that we’d taken the lead had clearly upset Everton because we probably didn’t deserve to, it’s just down to the vision of Clichy and the skill of Eduardo. However we were leading and the home side had work to do. We were still being frustrated and we weren’t playing amazingly. It was getting heated and cards were dished out all over the place. In the 73rd minutes Bendtner picked up a second yellow for a bad challenge on Johnson. He can have no complaints with it, it’s just a sign of his immaturity. He’ll learn from it.
Clichy, Flamini, Fabregas and Eduardo also got booked. Mathieu’s yellow means he’ll miss the Burnley match through suspension. Six minutes from time it was made 10 men each when Arteta stuck his elbow in Cesc’s face. Fabregas made a meal of it but if he hadn’t then maybe he wouldn’t have been off and they’d still have the man advantage? It’s just the way the game is today and ass much as I hate to see Fabregas rolling around like Eboue I understand why he did it.
Before that second red card though, we scored our third though Adebayor in the 78th minute, just a few minutes after he’d come on for Eduardo. We only had 10 men but it didn’t matter because it was entirely route one football. Almunia’s goal kick went long and was heading straight for his opposite number, but a mix up between Howard and Yobo allowed Adebayor to cheekily come in and nick the ball to simply tap it into the empty net. A hilarious goal and one that won us the game.
There was just time in the 94th minute for Tomas Rosicky to make it 4-1 to The Arsenal. Ade won the ball and took it out to the left, played a nice one-two with Diaby to cut inside the box then Abou played a short on to Rosicky. Tomas took a touch, waited for the defenders to make their move then shot into the bottom corner. It was quite a nice goal actually, a typical Arsenal move.
So we won 4-1, the score line is a bit flattering but in the end we deserved to win. The first half was shocking but we fought well to come back. Not the best performance but three points takes us back to the top for the New Year. Hurrah!
Thanks for reading.
[...] Arsenal Danish striker Niklas Bendtner was then sent off but Emmanuel Adebayor added a third for Arsenal after some confusion in the Everton’s defense. [...]
I think you listened too closely to Moyes’s assessment.
It is true that Everton had the better of the first half but I don’t consider that they created a single chance worthy of a mention in that half. The goal came from a foul by Yakubu on Toure, pushing him into the ball, so that he conceded a corner.(Note that later Bendtner was booked for similarly pushing Yobo when he was shepherding the ball out). Everton created nothing from the corner; it was Bendtner who set it up for Cahill/Yakubu to bundle it over the line – so much for Moyes claiming that it was Everton working their chances through good football!
The only other chances Everton created in that half were a long range blast by Neville into the roof of the stand (not what I would really call a chance) and a monster dive by Yakubu, in a brazen attempt to con the referee into giving him a penalty.
In the second half, Everton created one good chance, an unmarked header from Yakubu but nothing else at all.
Given Everton’s tactic of flooding the midfield and making the game physical, our strategy of bypassing their midfield was always going to be effective and so it proved.
Moyes claimed his team played the best football but in the second half, they defended like a pub team and throughout the game, they really only created one or two chances.
You need only look back to our season last year, to remember a team who played a lot of pretty passing manouvres in the middle third but struggled to convert them into goals. As a consequence, we drew a lot of games we should have won and even lost a number too. That’s where Everton are but I wouldn’t get excited about the prospect of Moyes moving them on the next step.
This year, Everton have played 5 games against the big four and have gained 1 point from 15.
I didn’t see Moyes’ interview
Nice snow effect!
[...] more than capable of getting a result against us, as we’ve seen in recent years. We beat them 4-1 when we went to Goodison earlier in the season but last year we only managed one point over the two [...]