Everton halt Arsenal’s 14-game unbeaten run
london — Ashley Williams’s 86thminute header ended Arsenal’s 14game unbeaten run and kept Arsene Wenger’s side from the Premier League summit as Everton claimed a much-needed 2-1 win on Tuesday.
Arsenal would have provisionally supplanted leaders Chelsea on goals scored with victory and took a 20thminute lead when Alexis Sanchez’s free-kick deflected in off Williams.
But Seamus Coleman equalised with a 44th-minute header before Williams’s first Everton goal ended his team’s five-game winless run and sent Ronald Koeman’s men up to seventh in the table.
“We showed two faces,” Everton manager Koeman, who had defender Phil Jagielka sent off in stoppage time, told BT Sport.
We faced many physical challenges and that disturbed our game, but we were a bit unlucky
Arsene Wenger
Arsenal manager Wenger said the game had been “very physical”. “We faced many physical challenges and that disturbed our game, but we were a bit unlucky to lose as well,” he said.
“They were a bit scared at first, but they got their confidence. We did fight, I cannot fault that.”
Meanwhile, champions Leicester City were brought down to earth after their 4-2 demolition of Manchester City as Marc Pugh’s goal earned Bournemouth a 1-0 win at the Vitality Stadium. Arsenal made only one change from their 3-1 win over Stoke City, fit-again right-back Hector Bellerin replacing injured centre-back Shkodran Mustafi, and took a 20th-minute lead.
The goal stemmed from a comedy of errors on the edge of Everton’s box as Ross Barkley lost possession, Williams fouled his own team-mate Idrissa Gueye and Jagielka tripped Francis Coquelin.
Sanchez sent the free-kick curling towards Everton goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and in seeking to clear the ball, Williams succeeded only in deflecting it into his own net.
It was Sanchez’s 12th effort of the campaign, putting him level with Chelsea’s Diego Costa as Premier League top scorer. Everton did not look like equalising, with Romelu Lukaku and Aaron Lennon slicing shots off target, but with half-time looming they drew level.
Leighton Baines curled a rightfoot cross towards the back post from the left and Coleman nipped in between Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal to glance a deft header past Petr Cech.
Mesut Ozil spurned a glorious opportunity to restore Arsenal’s lead early in the second half, wafting a shot over the bar from Sanchez’s cut-back, while Barkley drilled wide at the other end.
With four minutes to play Everton struck the winner, Williams flying in at the back post to send a thudding header past Cech from Barkley’s corner. —