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Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus set for festive face-off for Arsenal role as Everton win sparks hypocritical takes after fortunate penalty call
A win on Merseyside was not the only thing this Arsenal side needed to produce as they, again, narrowly secured three points for the second game in a row. After the frustrating and, as Mikel Arteta described it, “unacceptable” performance against Wolves, there needed to be a response.
While there is no doubt this was a better display than the nail-biting finish experienced last weekend, it still lacked the assurance that was hoped would be on display. Granted, it could have easily been two, or three or maybe even four, but equally, were it not for a charitable refereeing call, Everton might have equalised from the spot.
In discourse with supporters, I cannot quite believe the pushback against the reality that William Saliba did foul Thierno Barry in the box. Swinging his foot late, beaten to the ball and kicked the back of the forward’s heel, bringing him down.
I remember the defeat at Villa Park a couple of seasons ago when Gabriel Jesus saw the back of his heel kicked by Douglas Luiz as both players vied for the ball. I thought that was a penalty then, and I think this was a penalty now – if we want consistency from officials, we need consistency from ourselves.
The first half was the antithesis of an advert for the English topflight. Turgid and arguably scared play with a sense that the weight of expectation on the side in the Premier League remains so great, it’s coming out as a burden.
While Manchester City, chasing, swept aside West Ham and Crystal Palace in their last two games, scoring three in each, the Gunners have scraped by two toothless opponents, inspiring anything but confidence.
But that’s quite a negative take from a week where Arsenal have indeed secured maximum points. Come May, if Arteta’s side are lifting the title, no one would care about how they found the points, just that they did.
Yet, while in the midst of these performances right now, it remains a challenge to foresee how this can be sustainable enough when your rival, biting at your coattails by a distance of just two points, is so close behind and looking so strong.
While Erling Haaland might be carrying Pep Guardiola’s side somewhat, scoring two more this weekend, the Gunners’ own number nine was gifted an important goal. Given the ball to take the penalty, which in itself was something of a gift in how it was won from a bafflingly silly handball infraction, the Swede made no mistake from the spot.
While there have been plenty of question marks about the striker’s start to life at Arsenal, judgment of his ability, technical level and acclimatisation to a far higher level of challenge, there are no doubts about his capacity to score from the spot. No goalkeeper is safe when he puts the ball down from 12 yards.
He was let down in the game to a degree; some poor passes in behind or missed opportunities to find him will give the scrutiny some respite. However, it was noticeable how much more fluid and threatening the Arsenal attack looked when Gabriel Jesus came onto the field for the third consecutive game.
With Crystal Palace on Tuesday, the Brazilian is expected to start, and how he performs might determine who starts the game when the Premier League resumes on December 27 with the visit of Brighton. Kai Havertz is not too far away either, as the German fights to return from injury.
Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, Ethan Nwaneri, Christian Norgaard and Myles Lewis-Skelly were all unused substitutes. While Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino entered the game after the 80th minute, meaning Arteta has plenty of fresh legs for the quarter-final against a Palace side who have just played two games in three days, winning neither and were easily beaten by relegation battling Leeds United.
The result, however, confirmed the Gunners would indeed be top of the tree at Christmas, a reality which has been the case in two of the last three seasons, but none of these campaigns ended with the Premier League title in their grasp. The manager was asked what it is about this season that he believes will be different from the others.
“What gives me belief and confidence is the level of performance and the consistency of that,” Arteta said. “That's very, very difficult to do in this league. That means that the team is constantly there.
“Enjoy the process of winning. You're going to have to go to difficult places, you're going to have difficult moments. We have dealt with a lot of things already, and we are there.
“What we want to do is work for the next game, try to improve and make sure that everybody is with that spirit and energy and enjoying that.”
Another difficult place has certainly been ticked off at Everton, a place that sees the Gunners win there for just the second time in the last eight visits. Turf Moor, The Stadium of Light, Villa Park, St James’ Park, Anfield, Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge all ticked off the list. The second half of the season has great promise, but the Gunners still need to find that extra gear if they are going to go all the way this time around.
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