Gunners provide heart and goals 3 2
SO MUCH for two managers bringing calm and making their teams harder to beat.
But if they carry on producing entertainment like this, no one will complain because Mikel Arteta and Carlo Ancelotti delivered a cracker yesterday.
Five goals, chances galore, kamikaze defending and, ultimately, a big win for Arsenal.
Quite how they clung on is anyone’s guess because they looked shattered after a midweek trip to Athens and were in debt to keeper Bernd Leno late on.
But of all the things Arteta has instilled during his two months in charge, the biggest is heart.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice but his star display was also about hard work, fight and setting a captain’s example.
The same can be said of Mesut Ozil while Bukayo Saka made a difference.
It is incredible to think Arteta and Ancelotti were installed on the same weekend before Christmas and, with both watching from the stands at Everton, the teams produced a boring goalless draw. Not yesterday.
Ancelotti lost but has got Everton going. Dominic CalvertLewin is surely worth an England call-up and Richarlison was outstanding. There was a feel-good story, too, as Andre Gomes came on as a sub 112 days after a leg break.
The first goal came within a minute and was down to poor defending that Arsenal fans thought was a thing of the past.
Gylfi Sigurdsson floated a freekick into the box, David Luiz got everything wrong and headed it to Calvert-Lewin, who produced an acrobatic finish.
It all changed when Sead Kolasinac went off after a collision and on came Saka. This kid is electric. He broke down the left and his cross was sensational, an open invitation for Eddie Nketiah to score.
Then Luiz brought the ball out of defence, played in Aubameyang and he raced clear to score.
Richarlison got one back but, within a minute of the restart, Ozil played Nicolas Pepe down the right and Aubameyang won it.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Leno 8; Bellerin 5, Mustafi 6, Luiz 7, Kolasinac 6 (Saka 18, 7); Ceballos 6 (Torreira 76), Xhaka 7; Pepe 5, Ozil 7 (Guendouzi 82), Aubameyang 8; Nketiah 7. Goals: Nketiah 27, Aubameyang 33, 46. EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Pickford 6; Sidibe 5, Mina 6, Holgate 6, Baines 7; Delph 6 (Kean 82), Schneiderlin 5 (Gomes 59, 6); Richarlison 8, Sigurdsson 6, Iwobi 5 (Bernard 60, 6); Calvert-Lewin 7. Goals: Calvert-Lewin 1, Richarlison 45.