Everton 2 Arsenal 1
Sanchez 20 Coleman 44 Williams 86
Centreback Ashley Williams started the ball game badly by allowing Alexis Sanchez’s free-kick to hit his left leg and deflect past keeper Stekelenburg.
The equaliser came just before half-time when left back Leighton Baines hit a right footed cross to the far post and right back Seamus Coleman jumped between Monreal and Koscielny to head home.
Coleman, a gaelic footballer when he was 15, was signed by David Moyes from Sligo Rovers for £60,000 in 2009. What brilliant recruitment! He’s now captain of Ireland with 42 caps.
The game had been balanced at 1-1 for about 40 minutes.
The enigmatic Ross Barkley has been beyond disappointing this season, so he got dropped.
Last night Barkley came back, did a bit in the second half, and provided a a very good right wing corner which Ashley Williams headed down inside the unguarded post.
Two balls across the penalty area, two goals conceded by Arsenal. And their goal was a deflected free-kick.
There were six minutes of added time provided a hectic finale in which Funes Mori blocked from Monreal, and Baines kicked an Iwobi shot off the line.
Zonal marking sucks but is a vital element of Lord Wenger’s philosophy, in which none of his players is ever accountable for a goal conceded.
Andy Hunter, The Guardian’s Merseyman, reported:
Koeman shared Wenger’s assessment that Everton’s aggression after a poor start was responsible for turning the game in their favour. “The key was how we played after 20 minutes,” he said. “That was the team what we like to see, what the fans like to see – you go face to face, aggression, pressing, playing football and go for it.
“How we start the game, you don’t win any game like that because the team was nervous. I can understand a lack of confidence but we played every ball back, we make it difficult for each other and then it is no chance against Arsenal. They are too good.
“The weakness is if you go face to face, you are aggressive, you run and you go. You need a bit of luck, what happens in the last 20 seconds, but we deserved the win. We came back with great character. If you show that aggression and commitment, it is difficult to beat Everton at Goodison Park.”
My old mate Henry Winter, the esteemed Chief Football Writer of The Times, insists today that “It would be ridiculously precipitous to rule Arsenal out of the title race.”
After only four wins in Manchester City’s last 15 games, Pep Guardiola admits he fears the sack.
City play Watford tonight.