Everton vs Arsenal: Bad Luck & Dominance Count for Nothing

Mikel Arteta has praised Arsenal for controlling matches.

Keeping possession wins you matches. Well, that’s how many football scholars smitten by the beautiful game will have you believe. On Saturday, Arsenal were the dominant side for large spells, but never looked like winning.

Everton had on shot on target in the first half and scored twice, Arsenal had two across the 90 and scored once. It came from the penalty spot.

Speaking on the official Arsenal website after the 2-1 loss to Everton, Mikel Arteta lauded Arsenal for ‘dominating’ the game but lacking a hint of luck in certain situations. Either he’s protecting his players or they’ve pulled the wool over his eyes. We sincerely hope it’s the former, because if he truly believes what he’s saying, you do fear the worst.

"“You are better than the opponent, you dominate the game and usually when you are under this pressure and this position in the table, you get battered by teams,” he said. “It’s not the case. […] when we need a little bit of luck, we hit the post or we have some big chances and we don’t put them away. “The opponents are not generating anything. We lost against Burnley without them generating a single shot on target as well.”"

Addressing the topic of domination, and lack of goal threat, Everton were very poor at Goodison Park. A side who’d just beaten Chelsea and Leicester, riddled with injuries to key players, were there on a plate for Arsenal. And still they won.

If Carlo Ancelotti‘s side had lost there would have been few complaints from the Italian. Their opening goal came without them having a shot on target, and Yerry Mina‘s header was helped into the net by some inept defending.

Despite that, Arsenal rarely ever troubled them.