Arsenal target fourth straight Premier League win as a winless-at-Emirates Everton visit home
After a successful start in the Europa League, it’s back to the grind of the Premier League for Arsenal as they take on heavy spenders Everton at the Emirates on Saturday. While the Gunners will hope to make it four Premier League wins in a row for the first time since May 2017, the Toffees will be gunning for their first Premier League away win over Arsenal since 1995/96 at the Highbury.
Arsenal
Unai Emery’s stint as the Gunners’ coach couldn’t have asked for a worse start, as he started with losses to Manchester City (0-2) and Chelsea (2-3). The loss to City was more business-like, but the debacle against Chelsea was poor, as Arsenal let go easy goals to go 2-0 down very early in the game. An impressive comeback was nipped late in the second half and truth be told, Arsenal needed a jolt like that to come back to life.
Come back to life, they did, with wins over West Ham United (3-1), Cardiff City (3-2), and Newcastle United (2-1) to go with the 4-2 win over Spartak Vorskla in the Europa League this midweek. The wins can’t be more contrasting, but the simple fact that Arsenal got their season back on track matters more at this juncture.
It’s early days still and a gap of six points to the joint-table toppers Chelsea & Liverpool and a league position of seventh wouldn’t reveal much. If things go their way this weekend, Arsenal may climb up into the top-four, which looks to be the first priority of the season.
Everton
If infusion of funds can win you titles, Everton will be the front runners for this season. Splashing on new manager Marco Silva and a number of high-profile targets didn’t quite get the desired results – yet! Six points from five games is not a bad start for ‘Everton of the old’, but with the new regime in place, it is not a start that would enthuse the fans.
The Toffees have just one win in the season so far, a 2-1 home victory over poor travellers Southampton. Everton had nervy moments in almost every match so far, which talks a lot about the unsettled squad.
Be it the 2-2 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers, the draws against Bournemouth (2-2) and Huddersfield Town (1-1), there is a sense of inevitability that Everton will leak goals. A 3-1 League Cup win over Rotherham United is a solace, but the 3-1 loss at home to the struggling West Ham United is a bump in their progress.
Teams
Arsenal fans would have enjoyed the ruthlessness of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the Europa League fixture with a brace. As Emery gushed after the game, there are a lot of positives for the Gunners from the match.
Emery said: ‘Our first 60 minutes, we impressed our idea on them but we want to be competitive for 90 minutes and our disappointment today is the two goals conceded. I want to continue being competitive and going forward to score more goals and not conceding. But there are a lot of positive things to take from today.’
With a surprisingly strong first XI in place, Arsenal have shown that winning the games and picking up momentum is of top priority for the moment. All the summer signings were given a chance to improve and so was the Uruguayan mid-fielder Lucas Torreira, who we believe is a perfect replacement for Santi Cazorla.
Everton will be buoyed by the double boost that their summer signings Yerry Mina and Richarlison have given them ahead of this trip. The Colombian defender Mina is yet to make an appearance, following his summer switch from Barcelona, but is available for selection after recovering from a foot injury.
The Toffees’ top-scorer Richarlison (three goals in three games) is now available after completing a three-game suspension following his red card against Bournemouth.
Head-to-head
It’s not surprising that Arsenal have had the stick over Everton in their H2H matches. The overall Premier League record reads 96-56 in favour of the Gunners in 194 matches, with 56 draws.
The recent record is even more on-sided with Arsenal losing just twice in their last ten Premier League matches against Everton (W6, D2, L2). That includes winning the last three league matches in a row, scoring 13 goals and conceding just four.
The last ten home league matches saw Arsenal go unbeaten against Everton (W7, D3), Indeed, you have to go all the way back to the 1995/96 season for an Everton away win over Arsenal, which came in the Highbury Stadium.
Verdict
Arsenal have a lot of ground to cover in what is promising to be a very competitive 2018/19 English Premier League in terms of matches and betting tips, as you can see from the matches lined up this weekend. Staying in touch with the league leaders should be the priority and a win over Everton will surely help. With Richarlison back in contention, the Toffees won’t be a cakewalk, though, definitely not without scoring goals! The home fans can expect goals in this encounter.
