Arsenal: 4 talking points from miserable Everton defeat

Arsenal recorded their ninth home defeat of the season as they threw away their exceedingly faint European hopes once and for all with a limp 1-0 defeat to Everton. Here are the talking points.

What is there to be said that hasn’t already been said? Normally when it comes to unpacking Arsenal performances from this season the same grumblings and excuses can be made. The latter are running thin.

Hosting Carlo Ancelotti’s side at the Emirates – a team that hadn’t tasted victory in any of their previous six outings – despite the Toffees sitting above their opponents in the Premier League table their weak form presented Arsenal with the chance to gain confidence heading into Thursday.

It was a dominant display from the Gunners. Dominant in the sense of control and ball possession, not in terms of threat. Dominic Calvert-Lewin came close after two minutes but that was all the danger Everton posed on the night, barring Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free-kick kissing the top of the bar.

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4 talking points as Arsenal slump to miserable 1-0 Everton defeat in the Premier League

Hogging the ball and struggling to break down their opponents’ block, Bukayo Saka shot straight at Jordan Pickford and Dani Ceballos’ 20-yard drive forced a decent save from the goalkeeper, in a tame performance that produced little goal-mouth action.

The Spaniard thought he had won a soft penalty to give Arsenal some reprieve, yet VAR ruled Nicolas Pepe was offside in the build-up, despite umpteen passes being made between that phase and Ceballos being felled in the box.

Bernd Leno then topped off all of his other howlers with a world-class gaff, gifting Everton a goal and ultimately three points. Gabriel Martinelli came closest after that with a low effort, but it was far too little, far too late.

It’s a result that, with others to come, could see Arsenal drop into 11th by the end of the matchweek.

Eleventh.

Kroenke Out Protests Take Centre Stage

Matters outside the Emirates Stadium in the hours building up to the fixture were far more worthy of air time than those taking place in it.

A supremely drab affair rarely ever came to life, totally countering the strong messages being displayed outside. Banners, chanting and flares were all on show as Arsenal fans vehemently opposed their ownership with one clear message: ‘get out of our club’.

Thousands of supporters gathered on Hornsey Road, aiming to force the Kroenke’s to act like the custodians of the club they promised to be. A passive (careless) approach to ownership with no inkling of investment has led to fan disgruntlement for years on end, the like that reached boiling point with the decision to breakaway and join the Super League without any consultation with their ‘customers’.

It was an impressive protest that even had supporters of other clubs joining in, and a dire performance on the pitch will have done nothing to lift the gloomy mood within the fanbase.

One can hope that the injury-stricken Arsenal team playing as poorly as they did may convince KSE to either dip their hands in their pockets or pack up and run: this team is bad and we have to stop it losing us more money, or, this team is bad and we’ve got to get out.