FLIPPING GOOD WIN, ARSENAL
SO it turned out that the pattern of this game was set within the opening two minutes. Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was played clear on goal but was denied by Petr Cech when he should have scored or at least passed to a better placed team-mate.
At the time it seemed a little careless but also forgivable. It looked as though the young forward was simply caught a little cold by such an early opportunity. It happens.
Sadly for Everton, that miss was the opening act of a depressing and ultimately damaging pattern. The better team for periods of this game, Marco Silva’s side played with ambition and enterprise but when it came to scoring they fell well short.
By full time, Everton had created half a dozen good chances and Cech had saved them all. The Arsenal goalkeeper deserves credit for that but at the same time he shouldn’t have been given a prayer with some of them.
So it was always likely that Everton would pay a heavy price against an Arsenal side who are not yet thoroughly convincing but remain capable of hurting teams.
Sure enough, two goals in three second-half minutes earned them the win and it was fitting that they came from two forwards in whom Arsenal have invested in the region of £100million.
Everton continue to suffer from the fact that they have never adequately replaced Romelu Lukaku, sold for £75million to Manchester United last year. Arsenal have at least given it a go in that regard and here it was Alexandre Lacazette (£ 46m) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£ 56m) who scored the goals that separated these teams.
The first, in the 56th minute, was a beauty. Everton captain Tom Davies might have competed better for a loose ball 30 yards from goal but when the ball was played forward to Lacazette there was much to admire as the Frenchman opened his body to curl a lovely right-foot shot into Jordan Pickford’s lefthand corner from 16 yards.
England goalkeeper Pickford had a decent afternoon but there was nothing he could do with this one. Had Everton possessed such quality at the other end of the field, they might have enjoyed their journey home a little more.
Arsenal’s second goal was nowhere near as pretty, and, it turned out, should not have stood. Aubameyang was a yard offside when he converted a loose ball from seven yards after Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil had threatened to make a complete mess of a two-on-one overload and that at least allowed Silva to leave the Emirates nursing a grievance.
But the Everton manager will know that particular moment of misfortune was not the reason his team lost. In some parts of their play, Everton were impressive. They pressed the opposition well, moved the ball quickly when they had it and in Brazilian Richarlison they had the game’s most dangerous player.
The former Watford player had the beating of Arsenal right back Hector Bellerin from the opening moments and gave the Spaniard a horrible time. Indeed, Everton looked capable of causing Arsenal problems whenever they got into spaces between the home team’s defence and their holding players and certainly should have led by half-time.
But as well as Calvert-Lewin’s early failure, Theo Walcott was also denied by Cech when clean through and Richarlison worked three good opportunities but could not beat the Arsenal goalkeeper.
After watching Cech struggle with new coach Unai Emery’s instructions to play out from the back in an early game at Cardiff, it
was tempting to wonder if a Premier League great was to end his time in the English game rather ingloriously. So from that point of view it was heartening to see him back to doing what he has always done very well here, namely saving shots on goal.
That said, Everton just didn’t make things hard enough for him. Even as they chased the game, Everton couldn’t change their habits.
As excellent as he was, Richarlison should have scored with a free header from a free-kick with 20 minutes to go but his effort was too close to Cech and once again he saved. A goal then and we would have had a real climax. As it was, it was that missed chance that finally seemed to drain Everton’s reservoir of belief and Arsenal saw the game out comfortably from that point on.
Emery will be happy enough with his team’s start to the season. After opening defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal have won five on the bounce in all competitions and their new coach will recognise signs of steady improvement, especially when his team have the ball.
Familiar frailties exist and that is not a surprise. Arsene Wenger left behind a squad with absolutely no understanding of how to perform effectively in the Premier League and it was always going to take time and two or three transfer windows to put that right.
With that in mind, it is not surprising that the London club can still look a little frail. Arsenal still seem short of nous and also toughness when they don’t have the ball and that will kill them against the really good teams.
Everton are progressive but are not yet in that category. Not where it really matters, at least.