Vintage Clar
TITLE RACE THROWN WIDE OPEN
ARSENAL were given a brutal reminder that Premier League titles aren’t handed out in February.
Mikel Arteta’s runaway pacesetters strode into Goodison Park with a swagger that suggested they had done enough to take home three points by simply turning up.
Ninety minutes later, Arteta (left) had to rush on to the pitch to prevent Oleksandr Zinchenko from making a chastening defeat even worse by getting himself into a confrontation with referee David Coote.
Zinchenko had been lucky to escape with just a yellow card in the dying seconds for an off-the-ball swipe at Everton sub Neal Maupay as the Gunners’ attempts at trying to cancel out James Tarkowski’s header descended into desperation.
Luckily for the Ukrainian, his manager recognised the signs and ushered him away from the match officials while Goodison celebrated a victory that was as important to Sean Dyche’s cause as it was devastating for Arteta.
“What we must do is understand who we are, understand how we got where we are and then start to do the basic things right again,” said Arteta. “If we start to do better, individually and collectively, then you earn the right to win games.
“In the last 10 or 15 minutes, particularly after we made the changes, we started to give away a lot of free-kicks and made a lot of rash decisions.
“I think Everton were really good. We have to congratulate them for how they’ve turned things around and how they made it difficult to win the game because they were really efficient. But from our side it’s disappointing because we didn’t get the result that we wanted.
“And the performance also didn’t reflect what we’ve been doing.”
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Tarkowski and Coady were outstanding. Captain Seamus Coleman kept Gabriel Martinelli under such control that the Brazilian was substituted.
And in midfield, the outstanding Amadou Onana just shaded the non-stop Idrissa Gana Gueye and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
It was also Dwight McNeil’s best game in an Everton shirt since joining the club from Burnley.
It was fitting that the goal that won the game on the hour had the stamp of Turf Moor.
McNeil’s outswinging corner enabled Tarkowski to shrug off Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard and bullet home a meaty header that Dyche would have recognised from their days together in claret and blue.
It was Tarkowski’s first goal since scoring for Dyche’s Burnley on the opening day of last season.
Dyche might have feared the worst when Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Doucoure both failed to make the most of glaring first-half opportunities.
But Everton eventually got what they deserved – and were immediately warned by their manager that this can only be the start given their precarious position in the table.
“I’ve told the players that when they come in on Monday they will be working hard,” said Dyche.
“It’s a great start – but that’s all it is. This performance was built on the belief the players have put in the base, which is to work hard and have respect for each other. The minimum requirement
I ask for is effort – and they have given total effort today.”