With Manchester United and Chelsea losing to Newcastle United and Stoke City respectively, and Manchester City drawing against Southampton, Arsenal had a great opportunity to go 7 points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
And with 9 minutes of yesterday’s encounter remaining, it looked like Arsenal had managed just that. But just 4 minutes after opening the scoring Gerard Depardieu popped up with the equaliser.
But with seconds remaning, Olivier Giroud almost scored a dramatic winner with a stunning volley which smashed against the bar.
If that went in, it would have taken the roof off The Emirates.
Some Arsenal fans are pleased that they managed to eventually break down a stubborn Everton side, and that Arsene Wenger “went for broke” and went with an almost game-changing triple substitution. It was Rosicky who chipped the ball into the far post, and Theo who headed across the danger area for Ozil to score.
But others are frustrated at having the win within our grasp, only for us to concede an equaliser soon after scoring. For me, Everton are one of the best footballing sides in the Premier League this season, and both sides showed a lot of attacking possession.
I more than anyone was frustrated at conceding after we should have “seen it out” but it wasn’t as if we dominated the game and gave away a sloppy equaliser. Everton came at us all game and there were other times in the match where they probably deserved to score.
As it is, objectively a point each was probably a fair result. Obviously we would have loved to hold on and take home all 3 points but as this Premier League season has shown, anything can happen. Some of the points Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City have all lost this season have been shocks but yesterday wasn’t one of them. Everton are a top side and don’t forget we have a much more demanding schedule than they do. I believe that in retrospect, people will see this as a good point.
Another criticism was our defending for the goal. I think that’s a bit harsh as Szczesny and the back four in 2013 have been pretty much impeccable. Jenkinson did well in Sagna’s absence and Gibbs has been excellent also. We all know about the Mertesacker-Kocielny partnership and the Big Pole has really matured into one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.
So there’s a lot to be positive about. How many Arsenal fans would have believed this summer that on December 9th we would be 5 points clear at the top of the league? I think it’s safe to say, that the total number would have been zero.
No bottling they finally came up against a strong team and couldn’t finish. They have Chelsea and City before the year ends which I can’t see them winning myself especially playing city at home who are world beaters at the ETIHAD right now.
A point is fair enough.The manner of the equalizer really gutted me,space of few minutes,is not happenin’ that often this season.The markin’ of the barcelona loan player was sloppy,they gave him too much room to think in a dangerous area.Wenger should correct this habit of starting slowly against bigger opponents.we are always on the back-foot,it happened last seasons & i saw flashes of such nervous startin’ against dortmond,man u &everton..i hope wenger should put it right against man city & chelsea..positive against everton is our ability to add grit,steel, discipline & containment in difficult games.
Football fans are well informed these days, and analyze games as pundits do, and not afraid to identify problem areas. From the outset yesterday Gibbs appeared to have issues with his team mates. He failed to make himself available in attack in the first half in particular, when he did support the forward play his crosses as always are usually goalkeepers bread and butter, rather than the low hard whipped-in balls that create panic, and again when he did support the attack he was particularly slow to get back leaving space for Everton to exploit. He not only back answered colleagues on the pitch even adding aggressive “your fault” gestures in front of 60,000 Gooner fans and millions of football fans across the globe. Finally he should have closed down the ball, stood his ground and prevented such a clear shot on goal that cost us 2 points. The cross for the goal came from failures on our right back position, but that should be remedied by the return of Sagna.
Gerard Depardieu????…ha ha ha. so a 65 year old film star scored against you eh. I think Gerard Deulofeu is the name you are looking for.
I think that was the joke…