Arsenal vs Everton: 5 key players to ensure victory

Arsenal are rolling on four straight wins and they’ll want to make it five against Everton at the Emirates. Here are five guys that will be needed to ensure the win.

Arsenal are starting to find a certain degree of comfort in their wins, even if the scorelines might not suggest as much. The comfort is not being found on the defensive side of things, thought that is coming around, after what should have been two consecutive clean sheets against Newcastle and Vorskla that only went bad at the very last minute.

But it does look like the defensive issues are being ironed out, bar some fluky happenstance goals that you just have to shake your head at.

In the meantime, the attack is flowing together just as beautifully as we might have expected, even at our most optimistic. Despite being goose-egged in the opener against Manchester City, the Gunners are still tied for third in goals scored with 10, and one has to imagine they’ll move on up that chart after Everton. But alas, I’m getting ahead of myself.

It’ll be curious to see how the Europa League affected Unai Emery’s team selection, if at all. My bet is on the latter, but still, here are the five guys that will have to be on their game to ensure that this game goes according to plan and doesn’t derail.

5. Granit Xhaka

Honestly, the only reason why Granit Xhaka is so far back on this list is because I am now in full belief that nothing will disrupt his flow. Mostly because his flow is so easy to obtain. All you have to do to get Xhaka at his best is put a decent partner next to him and let him see a lot of the ball with a controlled tempo. There’s no reason that shouldn’t happen against Everton.

We saw against Newcastle what can happen when Xhaka is at his best. He literally controls everything. He’s like a wizard out there in that regard, because everything flows through him and, without him, the team looks stifled.

Such is the benefit of having such a competent midfielder who can protect the ball and pick out smart passes. It’s that easy. And it will be that easy against Everton.

On to No. 4.