Arsenal vs Everton
Date: 03/02/18
K/O: 17.30pm
Venue: The Emirates
Arsenal host Everton at the Emirates in the late kick-off on Saturday afternoon.
Arsenal’s home form has been near exemplary in 2017/18, with only 1 defeat all season and even that was in a great performance against a de Gea inspired Manchester United. One of their three away wins this season was a 5-2 shellacking at Goodison Park in the reverse fixture, and Wenger’s side will be hoping to replicate their form in the reverse fixture from earlier this season.
That fixture saw Rooney open the scoring with a remake of his Clive Tyldesley ITV “remember the name” goal. Rooney has had something of a rejuvenation this season and his interplay with Sigurrsson and Walcott could be the key to whether Everton can get something this Saturday.
Walcott got a brace in midweek as Everton grabbed a much needed win. Seamus Coleman also made a heartwarming return and his attacking flair from full back could be key to Everton progressing from the typical gritty Allardyce team into something a bit more progressive which will be required if Everton are to push for European spots.
Arsenal face a tough run after this game with Tottenham next before a double header with Manchester City, at a Wembley cup final and in the league, so will need a good win to get momentum into that period. The errors from Monreal and Cech in midweek suggest the sloppy side of the Arsenal psyche is still massively prevalent, and the next month could see another great Arsenal unraveling or a classic papering of the cracks.
Key to this will be how Wenger can introduce Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan into his starting eleven. Without dropping Lacazette this seems impossible to do in a balanced fashion. Danny Welbeck and Santi Carzorla remain injured whilst Jack Wilshere and new signing Aubameyang have picked up and illness.
Embed from Getty ImagesSam Allardyce has James McCarthy and Leighton Baines out through long term injuries but otherwise has a full squad to pick from. Everton’s squad was bolstered on deadline day by the signing of Mangala who seems to be an archetypical Allardyce signing, in the same way that buying forwards you don’t need and strengthening your rivals is the archetypical Arsenal transfer window.
Predicted starting XI’s:
Arsenal: 4231. Cech; Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal; Ramsey, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi; Lacazette
Everton: 4231. Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Mangala, Martina; Gueye, Davies; Walcott, Rooney, Sigurdsson; Tosun
Score prediction: Arsenal 3 Everton 2
Written by Gary Robinson.
