Everton fall to painfully predictable defeat at Arsenal

There’s no such thing as a foregone conclusion in Premier League football — it’s why they play the games after all — but Arsenal vs Everton is as close as you can get. In fact, unless or until something fundamentally changes at Everton, it would save everyone a lot of time and effort if they just awarded the Gunners a bye and three points in this fixture every year.

From the Blues’ perspective, this was another a routinely pointless exercise at the Emirates Stadium. Worse, it was costly given that they lost their only recognised left-back to injury and if it proved anything it’s that David Moyes’s staid tactics and defence-minded approach belong in another era. Not that visits to North London were ever more profitable for Everton during his first spell in charge.

On only five occasions since the Toffees last won on Arsenal’s turf in 1996 has this match not ended in a home victory with fans in the building. Today, with Moyes bringing a limited squad shorn of two its best players down to the Capital to face the champions, there was a crushing feeling of inevitability about the outcome.

If that sense could have deepened any more among the travelling Evertonians, it did so in the seventh minute when Ezri Konsa plundered the opening goal to put the visitors even further behind the eight ball. Realistically, from that point it was a question of, “how many”?

Everton travelled to North London without Jarrad Branthwaite and Jack Grealish, the former sidelined by the league’s concussion protocols following his clash of heads with Emiliano Martinez last weekend and the latter officially listed as ill, which gave Tyrique George his first start since early in the campaign and Jake O’Brien a rare outing at centre-half.

The cosh came down early, though, and after Eberechi Eze had ghosted in behind Merlin Röhl, moved to right-back by his manager at the expense of Aisnley Maitland-Niles, O’Brien did well to intercept the cross aimed for Viktor Gjökeres behind for the first of three successive corners.

Thierno Barry and Vitalii Mykolenko got the last touches to the first two but the final Declan Rice delivery caused panic in Everton’s six-yard box and when Jordan Pickford flapped at the ball under his crossbar and it dropped in front of Konsa, the defender had the simple task of stabbing it home.

To their credit, Everton’s response to the early set-back was initially positive, although Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall wasted the first of a slew of disappointing set-pieces while James Garner prompted a fairly comfortable save from David Raya.

The best moment of the first half came from George, who cut in smartly off the left flank and fizzed a deflected shot narrowly past the far post. The ensuing corner dropped between Barry, O’Brien and an Arsenal defender but neither Blues player was able to see it before Konsa belted it clear off his own goal line.

Normal service then resumed as Arsenal repeatedly poured through Everton’s midfield. Eze flashed a shot across the face of Pickford’s six-yard box, Noni Madueke wriggled free of Vitalii Mykolenko but dragged his effort across the other side of goal while Mikel Moreno’s goal-bound strike was blocked by O’Brien and Madueke's spin and shot saw him ripple the side-netting. In stoppage time, Moreno then planted a free header over after Mykolenko had been mystifyingly booked by referee Tony Harrington.

George’s shot aside, Everton hadn’t looked like scoring in the first period but Ben White almost gifted them the equaliser a minute before the interval with a soft header back towards Raya that Barry instinctively tried to flick past the keeper with an out-stretched leg but couldn’t get enough purchase on it to steer it home.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, albeit with less Arsenal incisiveness until they inevitably scored just as Moyes was preparing to bring Tyler Dibling on in place of the anonymous and ineffective Brennan Johnson.

Röhl had actually come closer than anyone to adding to the scoreline when his attempted cross swung inches past the far post, but when White collected a pass wide to the Gunners’ right and stood an inviting ball up into the six-yard box, two red shirts were there completely unimpeded to nod home, with Gabriel Magalhaes doing the honours for Mikel Arteta’s men.

Frustratingly, after Dibling was belatedly introduced and Hackney was thrown on after Mykolenko was forced off with a leg injury, Everton had their most enterprising spell of the contest, with Hackney in particular adding some welcome forward momentum and intent.

Everton’s best move of the match arrived in the 83rd minute with George and Hackney both involved in probing down the left before Garner’s flighted ball found Dewsbury-Hall in the area but could only guide his glancing header wide of the target.

Hackney fired a low shot straight at Raya and Barry had a late chance blocked after being played in down the right channel but the game had long since been lost by that point.

Having been beaten for the first time this season by Chelsea seven days ago, Everton’s unbeaten away record was always likely to fall at the Emirates and it was difficult to see how it could have been any different with the way Moyes set the team up.

The positives of Hackney’s cameo and Dibling’s greater involvement in comparison to Johnson should provide food for thought for the manager as back-to-back games against Newcastle beckon. Whether he gets the message and opts for something different rather than the same tired methods and setup beyond the League Cup tie (where changes are to be expected) remains to be seen.