Arsenal regained top spot in the Premier League courtesy of a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Everton at the Hill Dickson Stadium. The slender win was decided in the first-half after Viktor Gyokeres fired home from the penalty spot after Jake O’Brien handled in the box. Everton had two massive penalty appeals turned away in the second-half, but the Gunners held on for the three points.
The Gunners took the lead courtesy of Viktor Gyokere’s 27th minute penalty following a comedy handball from O’Brien, who connected both hands with the ball high above his head in the box. Jordan Pickford did his best to slow down the taking of the spot-kick, remonstrating with the referee, but the Sweden international stepped-up confidently and thrashed the ball past home to hand the north Londoners a deserved lead.
In truth the Toffees weren’t at their best and failed to muster a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes, but will feel hard done by that they weren’t awarded a penalty in the early stages of the second-half when Martin Zubimendi tripped Thierno Barry right on the edge of the box. Everton boss David Moyes was fuming as referee Samuel Barrott waved the appeals away. And there was a long review after Barry appeared to be caught by William Saliba, but again the match officials and VAR said no foul had been committed.
The victory means the Gunners leap-frogged Manchester City to top the table at Christmas with key Premier League clashes against Brighton, Aston Villa and Bournemouth to come over the festive period after they play Crystal Palace in the delayed Carabao Cup quarter-final clash on Tuesday.
GOAL rates Arsenal's players from the Hill Dickinson Stadium...