Viktor Gyökeres’ penalty was the difference as Mikel Arteta’s men returned to the Premier League summit. Re-live a gruelling game with the best facts and Opta data in our Everton vs Arsenal stats page.
Arsenal will be top of the Premier League table at Christmas once again thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Everton on Saturday, going back above Manchester City.
City had momentarily gone top thanks to their comfortable 3-0 success over West Ham earlier in the day, but Arsenal did enough to leave Hill Dickinson Stadium with all three points.
Mikel Arteta would likely have preferred it to be a more emphatic victory, though Everton hardly threatened the Arsenal goal at all.
As such, Arsenal will be top at Christmas for the third time in four years – they’ll hope it provides them with better luck than the last two times.
Premier League table 20 December
After a flat opening, Arsenal were gifted the opportunity to take the lead in the 24th minute when Jake O’Brien clumsily handled at a corner.
Viktor Gyökeres smashed home the resulting penalty, a good omen considering Arsenal had won all their previous 18 games this season (all comps) when scoring first.
But it’s fair to say neither Gunners nor Everton put on much of a spectacle for the remainder of the first half, with clear chances at a premium.
In fact, Everton reached the break without managing a single shot – it was only the second time on record (since 2003-04) they’d failed even one attempt in the first half of a home league.
Arsenal’s half-time lead had them in a strong position given they’d not lost any of their last 34 Premier League away games when leading at the break.
The second half was a moderate improvement in terms of entertainment, though Arsenal almost killed the game off four minutes after the break when Bukayo Saka saw an effort cleared off the line.
Everton enjoyed pressure of their own and had a couple of penalty shouts turned down, but still they struggled to create openings.
They had two more let-offs soon after the hour. First, Leandro Trossard squandering a glorious opportunity when fed by Declan Rice, his effort rocketing back off the post. Martín Zubimendi then followed suit, though his chance was considerably tougher.
Arsenal had to dig deep towards the end to resist Everton’s late pushing, but the fact the hosts ended the game with just 0.2 expected goals reflects how well Arteta’s side coped on the whole.
Everton vs Arsenal xG map
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Everton vs Arsenal stats from their Premier League meeting at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Everton vs Arsenal Stats: Post-Match Facts
Facts to follow…
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