Returning Germans A Boost To Stuttering Arsenal Ahead Of Everton Test

Everton vs. Arsenal Match Preview – Premier League 23.08.2014

And so the battle is joined. Perhaps alone among our rivals last season, Everton threatened like no other. Sadly, Chelsea, Man City, and Liverpool pulled away down the stretch just enough to safely ignore us. Elsewhere, Man U and Spurs faded so badly that we could safely ignore them. Over the final weeks of the Premier League season we had to grapple with a club for whom fourth place would be a target, not a consolation prize, and for a time it seemed as if the Toffees would seize that destiny. However, they wilted under the pressure while we surged back above them. It’s a whole new season, and Saturday’s clash threatens to renew a rivalry that is still a bit fresh from the pressing.

As far as who we’ll face, the, er, faces will be familiar. The only real transfer-business over at Goodison Park has been the signing of Lukaku, last season’s loan-in star. It’s anyone’s guess how he’ll respond to his new role. Last season, there might have been a certain freedom afforded to him as the callow, borrowed player. Now that he’s the £30m-man, will he rise to the expectations or buckle under? At the other end of the pitch, there’s a stone-waller who ranked among last season’s best and who might have been Brasil 2014’s very-best, almost single-handedly keeping an inferior United States squad in contention against the likes of Portugal, Germany, and Belgium. I only say “almost” because, in fairness, he did frequently use both hands.

‘Twixt the two, of course, are nine others to consider, each of whom will have had a full season to absorb and implement Roberto Martinez’s bright, flexible, and forward-thinking style. In many ways, we might regard Everton under Martinez as a facsimile of Arsenal under Arsene in the early years: Technical. Flexible. Built on a budget. Lethal in counter-attack. For as dangerous as Everton proved to be last season—beating us 3-0 in the league to briefly climb above us—they couldn’t hold on, suffering three losses in their final six fixtures while stumbling to a fifth-place finish.

Like us, Everton have stuttered out of the starting blocks this season. While we can claim to have taken three points from a stubborn Crystal Palace, the Toffees grudgingly endured a draw with newly-promoted Leicester. After our own dour draw with Besiktas (and ahead of the midweek second-leg), we’ll have to rotate a few players, which could see us field a more-ambitious, vigorous side—one sharp enough to take all three points on Saturday.

LAST 3

• Arsenal 4-1 Everton (FA Cup 08.03.2014)
• Everton 3-1 Arsenal (Prem 06.04.2014)
• Arsenal 1-1 Everton (Prem 08.12.2013) 

FACTFILE

• Only three clubs—Sunderland, Crystal Palace, and Man City—came away from Goodison Park with all three points last season.
• The two clubs first met in 1905, a 1-0 win for Everton.
• Arsenal have won their last six Prem matches.

INJURIES

We’ll go in without Arteta, Gnabry, Miyaichi, Walcott, Ospina, and Gibbs; and Mertesacker, Ozil, and Podolsk are on stand-by but ready to answer a call-up.

POSSIBLE STARTING XI

Szczesny; Monreal, Koscielny, Chambers, Debuchy; Flamini, Wilshere; Campbell, Ozil, Alexis; Giroud.

A frustrated but motivated Arsenal squad will go into Goodison Park looking to make good on early-season promises, finding a way to win it.

GOONERSPHERE'S PREDICTION

Everton 1-2 Arsenal

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