EMERY GLOSSES OVER ARSENAL SHOCKER

ARSENAL manager Unai Emery made the baffling claim that his side are in good shape despite a desperately poor display in a 1-0 defeat at Everton which threw their top-four hopes into doubt. Emery said: ‘I don’t think we are very bad. It is a bad result, not a good performance but we are fourth. We know it is going to be difficult and today was a very good opportunity to take the three points and go third but after the result we are fourth and we need to be consistent.’ The defeat means Arsenal’s struggles on the road continue. Since November, the Gunners have won only once away — at Huddersfield — and four of their last six games are away from the Emirates Stadium.

It was put to Unai Emery a few days ago that a topfour finish, which used to be a minimum requirement for arsenal, is somehow considered an achievement and that the club’s aim ought to be much higher. He muttered meaningless platitudes about having won trophies in Paris and seville, though here was a performance which laid bare once again how far the club have fallen from the one which once represented swagger, cussedness, creativity and fight. the numbers tell the story of a side who have won 10 successive games in the sanctity of their own home and managed just five away all season, but two vignettes in the first half’s dying moments revealed infinitely more. the £350,000-a-week Mesut Ozil had found comfortable possession just inside Everton’s half with only the 36-year-old Phil Jagielka between him and alexandre Lacazette, who was racing on ahead. Ozil played a square ball to sead Kolasinac. two minutes later, Henrikh Mkhitaryan was in possession, Ozil powering ahead and opportunity knocked once again. another square ball. the most that could be said is that Ozil expressed some frustration with the decision-making of the armenian, one of Emery’s many invisibles. what was most striking about the opening 45 minutes was the pitiful indifference. there was no reaction from Ozil when Everton winger Bernard stole possession as he tried to work a short corner. None from Mkhitaryan when his ball out to Kolasinac sailed into touch. In a baffling interpretation of events, Emery displayed very few complaints and managed to conclude that things were not so bad. Ozil was an insignificant part of a game from which 11 of his 46 passes went forward before he was withdrawn after 74 minutes. He was deployed so deep by Emery that he set foot in Everton’s area just three times. He was within five yards of it on only six occasions. at this stage of the season every possible marginal gain needs to be pursued. Everton have shipped 14 goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season. No team have condeded more. Yet Emery’s team generally took their corners short. arsenal will fall behind Chelsea, into fifth place if Maurizio sarri’s team avoid defeat tonight. and if they fail to recover that top-four place, the financial cost will be dear. there was a time when arsenal’s stadium was an emblem of their local superiority. they can no longer claim architectural pre-eminence in north London and tottenham’s commercial deals are also outstripping their own. the only evidence of fight came from Emery, squaring up to Marco silva after shkodran Mustafi’s sneaky challenge which bundled Dominic CalvertLewin out of touch near the dug-outs. Ozil joined in, throwing a coat at the Everton bench. at the end, arsenal players lingered on the pitch in the sunshine. some returned to the dressing rooms clutching Everton jerseys. there was a time when a display like this would have presaged a sense of deep shame, with players who could not be out of the place fast enough. No bite: Emery’s side toiled again