Arsenal secured their first victory over Everton in six years following their hard-fought 1-0 victory at Goodison Park in the Premier League on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s team had to work hard to win at Goodison Park for the first time since 2017. Belgian forward Trossard put the game to bed in the middle of the second half.
Even though Arsenal wasn’t playing as well as they could have, they beat Everton for the fourth time in five games this season by playing as hard as Everton.
Arteta told his players that they could only end their bad luck with Everton if they were willing to risk their lives, and they were up to the challenge.
Arsenal’s last game before the international break, when they beat Manchester United with a late goal, was also a tense one. This game was also tense.
But Trossard’s goal moved unbeaten North London into fourth place, two points behind leaders Manchester City. They want to get back at Manchester City for losing the title race last season at the last minute.
No wins Everton is still in the relegation zone, and it looks like they will be in another fight to stay in the Premier League. In the last two seasons, they barely stayed up.
The team coached by Sean Dyche went into the game knowing that the club will soon have new owners after Farhad Moshiri agreed to sell 94 percent of his shares to an American investment fund called 777 Partners.
The takeover would end the turbulent time of British-Iranian Moshiri, who first invested in 2016 and has had a lot of trouble with the company.
Everton’s new owners got an early look at how hard their job will be when the Toffees lost their fourth of their first five league games. This was the first time that had happened since 2005-06.
Former Everton midfielder Arteta has no such worries as Arsenal prepares to play PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday and return to the Champions League after a six-year absence.
David Raya, who had just moved to Arsenal from Brentford and took Aaron Ramsdale’s place on the bench, kept a clean sheet as a reward for the Spaniard.
Raya was one of two changes. Kai Havertz was replaced by Fabio Vieira, who was making his first start since April.
Gabriel Martinelli thought he had given Arsenal the lead they deserved when he scored from close range in the 19th minute. However, Eddie Nketiah was offside during the buildup, so Martinelli’s goal was ruled out.
When Nketiah was called for interfering with the game, Arsenal was upset because Gabriel’s pass had hit Everton forward Beto and gone back into play.
Adding insult to injury for Martinelli, the Brazilian forward left the game soon after with a muscle injury.
Arsenal was so in control that Everton didn’t touch the ball once inside the visitors’ penalty area for the first 30 minutes.
Everton asked for a penalty when Abdoulaye Doucoure broke into the box and went down after being tackled by William Saliba. However, the penalty was not given.
Jordan Pickford made a great save on Ben White’s shot, and he made an even better save on Marin Odegaard’s rocket just after halftime.
Arnaut Danjuma of Everton hit the top of the goal from a long way out, but in the 69th minute, Arsenal’s hard work paid off.
Everton’s defence was broken up by a flurry of passes, and Bukayo Saka cleverly passed the ball to Trossard. Trossard then put his first league goal of the season into the far corner with a calm finish.
Photo by EPA/PETER POWELL
