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Arsenal v Everton: 5 Things We Learned

by Josh Sippie
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arsenal, olivier giroud

Ronnie Macdonald – Flickr Creative Commons

Arsenal came into their home match up against Everton riding a huge wave of momentum. The Gunners had just disposed of Manchester United and Watford, both by a score of 3-0. As an encore, Arsenal ran Bayern Munich out town to the tune of 2-0. Needless to say, the spirit of the team may have covered any lingering exhaustion.

Everton did their best to match their hosts and for the most part, they did. The possession was not heavily in Arsenal’s favor, just 56%. The Toffees had plenty of opportunities to run the game even. Unfortunately for them, they were up against Petr Cech, who does not look too fondly upon opposing opportunities.

Alexis Sanchez was one such player afflicted with lingering exhaustion. Strangely enough, it did not look nearly as apparent as it did against Bayern Munich. He was still rampaging all over the pitch. While no goal came to him, he did have several attempts at continuing his ridiculous streak.

But it was not Alexis who would continue his streak. Instead, it was Olivier Giroud, making it five goals in his last four games. He has also scored five in his last five against Everton. His goal kept his 1.00 goals per 90 minutes on track.

In typical Arsenal fashion, the goals came in a burst. While the game was stalemated for over a half hour, by the 38th minute, it was soundly 2-0.

Everton would pull one back through Ross Barkley, who benefited from a very fortuitous deflection off of Gabriel Paulista’s right foot. However, despite the late surge, Everton was not able to overcome Petr Cech and a very sound Arsenal defense.

This was a very educational game for Arsenal. A lot of players taught us one thing or another. With that in mind, let’s get educated with the five things learned from the Everton win.

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