Can Everton stop the rot against high flying Arsenal?
There is a full Premier League fixture list this week, starting with two fixtures on Tuesday night. One of which sees Everton welcome Arsenal to Goodison, in a match which the Toffees need to win, if they are to stop their season from becoming a disappointment.
Everton’s 3-2 defeat to Watford on Saturday afternoon saw them drop to 9th in the Premier League table, their worst position of the season. Having opened the scoring through Romelu Lukaku, things were looking good for Everton at Vicarage Road but Watford equalised before half-time. Poor defending allowed the hosts to race into a two-goal lead in the second half before Lukaku struck late on but it wasn’t enough to see Everton come back into the game.
Trends show that defeat means it is now five games without a win in the Premier League and only one win in their last ten league matches. The current form is a long way from their early season progress, which saw Everton win their first four matches. Even more worrying is the fact Everton have kept just one clean sheet in their last nine Premier League games and this must improve, if they are to take anything off an Arsenal team who are full of confidence.
Arsene Wenger’s team came back from a goal down on the weekend to defeat an in-form Stoke City and open a 3-point gap over third place Liverpool in the Premier League. Arsenal have won their last three league games, scoring 11 goals in the process, at an average of 3.66 per game. Wenger will be licking his lips at the thought of playing against an Everton defence who are struggling to keep goals out. Currently on a run of fourteen matches without defeat, Arsenal are yet to lose away from home in the Premier League this season and have scored an average of 2.57 goals when on the road.
A glimmer of hope shines for Everton in the fact both teams have scored in Arsenal’s last six Premier League games. Furthermore, and despite Everton’s poor general form, they are undefeated at home in their last ten league matches, which is the only crumb of comfort for Koeman’s men at this difficult time. Everton have scored at least one goal in all seven of their home Premier League matches this season but scoring a single goal is not going to be enough to win the match against Arsenal.
The way Everton are currently defending, they will need to score at least 2 goals in this game, to get anything from it. This is something they have managed twice in seven home league games this season. With tough looking fixtures coming up against Liverpool and Leicester, Everton need to take something from this game, to give them some belief for the remainder of the season.
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