Yahoo Finance Arsenal suffer bleak night against Everton as Mikel Arteta again fails to solve team’s attacking woes
There have been some pretty bleak nights during Mikel Arteta’s time at Arsenal, but this defeat against Everton is up there.
Arsenal travelled to Goodison Park to face an Everton team on an eight-game winless run, with their last victory coming against Norwich all the way back in September. They left with their tail between their legs.
It was Demarai Gray who eventually sunk them, scoring a goal of real quality in the 92nd minute that was at odds with the rest of the football on show.
If you were being polite you would call it attritional, although you suspect some Arsenal fans in the away end would have some more colourful words.
Their team just never got going at Goodison Park and, while they may have had 64 per cent possession, they barely did anything with it.
Such is the fragile nature of this Everton side, Arsenal were given chances to leave Merseyside with something.
The Toffees are lacking in confidence and when Richarlison twice had goals ruled out for offside - the second one by the width of his toe nail - they probably thought it wasn’t their night.
The Brazilian did finally score, though, heading home in the 79th minute to cancel Martin Odegaard’s first-half opener. That goal had come right at the end of the first-half, with the Norwegian knocking in Kieran Tierney’s cross.
It was the only real moment of quality Arsenal produced in the first-half, and arguably in the second too, which sums up how lacklustre this performance was.
Arsenal can rightly moan about some of the officiating, particularly when Ben Godfrey stamped on Takehiro Tomiyasu in the first-half, but they did not deserve to take three points from here.
They have made some good progress under Arteta this season, but this really felt like a step back when they were dying to take one forward.
Xhaka makes miraculous comeback
Whatever Granit Xhaka’s powers of recovery are, you suspect Arsenal would like to bottle it and give it to everyone.
The midfielder was not supposed to be back fit until the end of this month, but somehow he returned tonight weeks ahead of schedule.
Xhaka even played the full 90 minutes too and any suggestions that his knee issue could hold him back were dismissed.
Sadly for Arsenal, his comeback was overshadowed by the performance and result, but his return will be valuable over the coming weeks.
The Gunners are heading into the busy festive period and they need all the bodies they can get as they try to turn things around.
Arsenal’s striking woes continue
Perhaps it isn’t a personnel issue after all. Arteta looked to switch up his striking options tonight, deploying Alexandre Lacazette instead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but the same result occurred.
Lacazette was basically a passenger for his time on the pitch and he was starved of service all night.
It was the same story at Old Trafford for Aubameyang and that suggests, perhaps, the issue is a tactical one.
Both Aubameyang and Lacazette have looked isolate in attack and they are suffering from a lack of creativity and chances.
It is something that isn’t sustainable and Arsenal need to find a solution sooner rather than later.
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