Arsenal 1 Everton 1
Arsene Wenger in the pre-match interviews said Everton would be the toughest test. He also mentioned their attacking threat, saying the defence would cope.
Everton lined up 4-2-2, but soon dropped to 4-1-4-1. When Arsenal attacked there was never less than six players behind the ball, sometimes up to ten.
Rosicky, gave a taste of things to come firing in a shot after an intricate move in the second minute.
Henry linked up well twice with the Czech. However he laid off four bad balls which were intercepted.
Van Persie wasted a chance and didn’t seem to be in the game – making wrong decisions.
On 11, from an Everton corner, Toure missed the flight, but caught it slightly, Cahill, hiding behind Yobo, came into the hole vacated by Hleb (the spare man), chested it, dropping kindly and following up, hoofed it high into the net.
The dreaded first goal against at the Emirates. And with Mike Riley the referee – the scene was set for a frustrating afternoon. Would it be another Villa, Boro – or worse?
Soon after, another intricate move ended with Henry setting up Rosicky with a shot over the bar. The crowd burst into warm applause.
It was as if it was a different game, high diving or ice dancing with points for aesthetic appeal. If that was the case, it would have been stopped at half-time.
Henry found space and shot hard – parried by Howard. And then Hoyte sent in a cross/shot from the right touched wide by the Frenchman. Soon after Hoyte, limping, was replaced by Flamini.
At the other end the Arsenal defence were showing signs of sloppiness. Toure was having an off day.
After a few more attacks – including Rosicky heading against Neville’s arm, Everton had a free kick – and should have been 2-0 up. Cahill ghosted in through the whole Arsenal defence and with only Lehmann to beat, missed it completely.
Henry tested Howard with a well placed header at the start of the second.
Rosicky beat two and placed a dipping shot on to the roof of the net. Fabregas found space and shot, but Howard parried over. And Flamini had two shots wide.
Was it going to be one of those days?
Arsenal increasingly used high balls – but with Henry the only player to fight against Yobo and Stubbs, a better policy would have been to dribble into the area and try and win a penalty in the packed blue forest.
After Gallas had given the ball away twice and Johnson had won two corners, Henry let a ball go in midfield. The crowd around said: ” Rubbish; no good; not at it; get him off; supposed to be captain; playing like a donkey.”
Djourou came off for Walcott on 67 – and as the flashing ad for EDF Energy came up, Walcottt started a cameo run down the right. He did inject some electricity to proceedings.
Rosicky got the ball centrally and ran towards the area. Carsley knocked him off balance with his right knee before winning the ball – so a free kick in a central area.
Van Persie whipped it over the forward moving wall. Howard, who had made a little step right, couldn’t re-adjust. The pace of Van Persie’s effort was too great. And the Amercian could only parry it into the net.
Aliadiere came on for Hleb for the last 11 minutes – and showed some speed and one or two good touches, along with a header wide.
But Arsenal continued to pump high balls into the box – a la George Armstrong of the sixties/early seventies – but without a Radford look-alike.
Why did Arsenal cross so much? Particularly when they have one of the smallest attacking midfields – Rosicky, Hleb, Fabregas and Walcott [van Persie was mostly wide, supplying crosses]. When do Arsenal score from corners? They had 16 here.
Surely with the dribbling skills at their disposal, and with a bureaucratic automaton like Mike Riley, a penalty would have been the best way of beating the sometimes six, seven, eight, nine and ten man defence.
Everton had four attacks of note, the whole match. They did resort to petty time-wasting tactics – standing right in front of every free kick, and kicking the ball away a few yards, not enough for Riley to book them – tactics which won’t win them many fans among neutrals, but which broke up Arsenal’s rhythm.
Hansen and Lawrenson on Match of the Day [Why do they continue calling it MotD when they cover all the matches?] condoned the tactics – which in a Premiership which boasts entertainment as a key driver – is a disgrace.
Had Adebayor, or even Baptista been playing, then Arsenal could maybe have won with the tactics employed – getting on to knocks-downs quickly.
Arsenal also missed Eboue, rarely getting beyond the last man, which is critical when scoring against packed defences.
Although a win was needed to keep up a realistic title challenge, at least Arsenal remain unbeaten at Ashburton Grove, which helps build up that fortress mentality.
Arsenal: Lehmann, Toure, Hoyte (Flamini 39), Djourou (Walcott 67), Gallas, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb (Aliadiere 80) Rosicky, Henry, Van Persie. Subs not used: Almunia, Senderos
Everton: Howard, Lescott, Yobo, Neville, Stubbs, Davies, Carsley, Osman, Arteta, Cahill, Johnson. Subs not used
Turner, Hughes, McFadden, Beattie, Anichebe