Two-goal Aubameyang clinches win for nervy Arsenal against Everton
Their propensity to do things the hard way shows little sign of disappearing just yet but, as Mikel Arteta punched the sky and celebrated with his backroom staff, Arsenal could sense something a little different in the air. This win over a bright Everton side felt significant, even in an arena that knows false dawns like few others, and all of a sudden their path towards the European spots does not look quite as fraught. Arteta has now presided over a run of 10 unbeaten games and, at last, back-to-back league wins: momentum is gathering at the right time and key players at either end of the field are turning it on with regularity.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bernd Leno were those who stood tallest here. If a match this fast, frayed and ragged was played 10 times, Arsenal would probably lose their fair share. But in Aubameyang they have an operator who, as Arteta said, appears reenergised by the demands being placed upon him; his second goal, heading in Nicolas Pépé’s cross with the second half less than half a minute old, was excellently taken and proved decisive after Leno made some vital late stops. Everton attacked in waves during the last quarter and a draw would not have been unfair, but the evidence is mounting that Arteta’s step-by-step reconfiguration is forging something with formidable potential.
Arteta and Carlo Ancelotti have wrought significant improvement from their teams since taking over on the same weekend before Christmas. This felt like a different sport from the one contested when, with both managers watching from the Goodison Park directors’ box before assuming full control, the same sides ground out the direst of goalless draws. The tone was set with the game just 50 seconds old, when David Luiz made a hash of connecting with Gylfi Sigurdsson’s set-piece. The ball looped up and Dominic Calvert-Lewin applied exhilarating punishment, adjusting himself to execute a technically perfect overhead kick from the six-yard line that sliced past Leno with the outside of his right boot.
Arsenal were on the rack in a seesawing opening spell, their old boy Alex Iwobi sidefooting over, but there had been enough to suggest they might find daylight of their own. That it needed a substitute left-back to open the door speaks, above all, of Bukayo Saka’s prodigious talent. He had been rested amid a gruelling schedule but, in the 18th minute, was enlisted to replace his own replacement, Sead Kolasinac. The Bosnian had gone down with an upperarm injury that Arteta said “looked bad”; on came the teenager and, shortly afterwards, he had delivered the exquisite whipped cross from which Eddie Nketiah guided in the equaliser.
It was Saka’s 10th assist of the season; his final ball is becoming one of the most reliable in the Premier League. David Luiz was the next to turn Everton’s defence around, allowed too much time to advance and slide a pass beyond the lumbering Djibril Sidibé. It freed Aubameyang, who opened his body up to curve expertly into the corner.
That was all too simple, but Arsenal duly returned the favour. Five minutes of added time had begun when Richarlison, sliding in on Dani Ceballos, was rightly booked. The Arsenal support wanted a harsher penalty and their dismay was compounded when, after Yerry Mina headed on Sigurdsson’s miscue, Richarlison extended a leg to divert beneath Leno, who might have imposed himself more effectively.
Perhaps half-time would dull a frenetic pace. That thought was banished within 23 seconds and, once again, clinical finishing and standoffish defending were at play. Leighton Baines seemed unwisely relaxed about allowing Pépé to switch on to his favoured left foot; the Ivorian has a delivery to rival Saka and, just as he did against Newcastle last weekend, found the onrushing Aubameyang. The header, firm and downwards, was masterful but a trailing Sidibé had again failed to smell the danger.
Arsenal were almost caught again after Richarlison, enjoying pantomime villain status, centred inches beyond Calvert-Lewin. Shortly afterwards Ancelotti sent on André Gomes for the midfielder’s first appearance since the horror injury he sustained in November, guaranteeing Everton at least some sort of happy outcome.
Had it not been for Leno they might have had something more tangible to take home. Arteta knew Arsenal were flagging and tore a strip off David Luiz for attempting an overlapping run when security was the primary aim. They were far too open and seemed likely to pay the price when Richarlison nodded down for Calvert-Lewin with 18 minutes to left, only for Leno to spread himself at point-blank range.
The keeper then denied Richarlison and then, in a carbon copy of the earlier incident, the forward just failed to find Calvert-Lewin again. Arsenal maintained a threat, Nketiah hitting the bar, but there was still time for CalvertLewin, who grows in stature by the week, to glance just wide. West Ham, Brighton, Southampton and Norwich are their next four league opponents: that route back towards the top now looks more intriguing than impossible.