Everton have beaten Arsenal 1-0 in a thrilling encounter at Goodison Park. The win is enough to move Everton out of the relegation zone to 17th on the Premier League table as they wait for how other teams in the relegation battle will perform this matchday.
Arsenal were toothless on the afternoon, and their slow start allowed Everton to have two goal-scoring opportunities in the first 20 minutes of the match but Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Abdoulaye Doucoure failed to convert them.
Mikel Arteta’s men didn’t have a clear-cut opportunity to score but Bukayo Saka came close to opening the scoring in the last quarter of the first half.
The Gunners have been known to cause opponents trouble through the wings but Sean Dyche gave his players instructions to keep Saka and Gabriel Martinelli quiet and they did just that the entire match. Arsenal’s most formidable wing play was cut off and captain Martin Odegaard failed to impose his presence in the middle of the park as he has been doing recently.
Everton’s low block defending shut out Arsenal completely and they were able to score one for themselves in the 60th minute when James Tarkowski headed home from the corner kick. Tarkowski and Dyche know each other very well, having worked at Burnley together last season.
Mikel Arteta tried to change players in the minutes that followed to try to salvage at last a point but this wasn’t to be as Everton held their nerve until the last minute of added time.
This is Sean Dyche’s first win as an Everton manager and the loud roar at Goodison Park will definitely get louder if the team keeps putting up this kind of performance.
Arsenal’s position will not change no matter what happens in their rivals’ matches later today and tomorrow, but their point gap might be cut to two if Manchester City beat Tottenham.
