Key events
Pre-match postbag. Just the one email for all y’all, but it’s the usual high-quality fare from the MBM’s resident Gunner, Charles Antaki: “Yes, all right; it can be admitted by Arsenal fans: the Fear is back. But this is the exact, the precise time for a transformation scene: for Victor Gyökeres to burst out of the back end of the pantomime cow, throw off his rags and stride the stage like a triumphant Principal Boy. Does he know it’s Christmastime?”
The 5.30pm kick-off has just finished, and Liverpool have won 2-1 at nine-man Tottenham Hotspur. They didn’t half make a meal of it, though, and it very nearly became Elland Road v2.0. Barry Glendenning has the details. That puts Liverpool up to fifth, for at least a couple of hours, though Crystal Palace can leapfrog them if they beat Leeds United at Elland Road in tonight’s other 8pm game. As for the teams we’re concentrating on here, Arsenal can of course reclaim top spot with a victory, while Everton can make it up to sixth if they win big, though that’d depend on what Palace get up to.
Everton make three changes to their starting XI following the 2-0 defeat at Chelsea, and all of them are enforced. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is injured, while Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye are away at Afcon. In come Tim Iroegbunam, Dwight McNeil and Charly Alcaraz.
Arsenal also make three changes, after their 2-1 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Martin Ødegaard, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori come in for Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Martinelli, who drop to the bench, and the injured Ben White.
The teams
Everton: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Garner, Iroegbunam, McNeil, Alcaraz, Grealish, Barry.
Subs: Travers, King, Patterson, Beto, Dibling, Rohl, Aznou, Welch, Campbell.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Hincapie, Calafiori, Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice, Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Gabriel Jesus, Eze, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Nwaneri, Merino, Lewis-Skelly.
Referee: Samuel Barrott
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Live from Bramley-Moore Dock, it’s Saturday Night!
At the start of November, Arsenal won 2-0 at Burnley to go seven points clear at the top of the Premier League. They were anointed in some quarters as champions-elect. But since that day, Mikel Arteta’s team have failed to win an away match in the division. They conceded a last-gasp equaliser at Sunderland. They failed to beat ten-man Chelsea. They lost, late on again, at Aston Villa. Then earlier this afternoon, Manchester City beat West Ham United 3-0, and now look …
Oh Arsenal. Factor in their unconvincing and, let’s face it, extremely fortunate win over bottom club Wolves last weekend, and Gunners fans can be forgiven for worrying if their tale is in the process of unravelling just like that yet again.
Whether or not the Hill Dickinson is the best venue for the title hopefuls to rediscover their road game is moot. Since winning 5-2 at Goodison Park in late 2017 under Arsène Wenger, Arsenal’s record when visiting the blue half of Merseyside isn’t great: won one, drawn two, lost four. But that victory came relatively recently, in September 2023, while last season’s meeting ended in a draw, so they’re unbeaten in this fixture in two.
And it’s not as though the wheels have come clanking off the Arsenal juggernaut in spectacular style: they’ve still only lost twice all season in all competitions, after all. By comparison, Everton are almost the dictionary definition of unpredictability†, capable of street-fighting grit at Old Trafford, a stylish win over Nottingham Forest, and miserable home capitulations to Newcastle and Tottenham. David Moyes side must also tonight do without their two standout performers of the season so far, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall injured and Iliman Ndiaye away at Afcon.
So there’s hope for Arsenal as they look for the win that’d put them back on top of the tree for Christmas. As for Everton, their pressure is a little less intense: comfortable in mid-table, they’ll be looking to build on a promising run of two wins (against Bournemouth and Forest) and a defeat at Chelsea for which they got good notices. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
†: They’re not the dictionary definition of unpredictability. That’d be the Carolina Panthers of the NFL.
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