It wasn't the prettiest of performances, but then grit and determination have become staples of Mikel Arteta's title-chasing Arsenal team, and the win over Everton on Merseyside underlined this squad's credentials.
The Premier League pace-setters are seemingly locked in another title tussle with Manchester City, who led briefly at the top of the table after beating West Ham United earlier on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola's side have Erling Haaland, but the Gunners have the most complete team in the division. And even with Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres, who converted from the spot to land the only strike of the game, leaving something to be desired with his overall performance, there's plenty of cause for confidence in north London.
Arsenal are viewed as the team to beat, even against one of the most illustrious outfits in Premier League history.
How Arsenal are underlining their title charge
Three years in a row Arsenal have finished runners-up in the Premier League, and there's a sense that this needs to be the year that Arteta crowns his brilliant Emirates reign with a statement trophy.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta
Another clean sheet for a devastating defence. Quite simply, the Londoners have an impregnable backline, and it is proving the difference-maker in their quest for the top spot.
After several successive years of battling at the very top of the table, Arsenal know what it means to stomp through a gruelling campaign, but there's little question that the forwards could do a bit more to find an edge against the Man City machine.
And while Gyokeres has taken some of the blame for having struggled to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League since joining from Sporting Lisbon for £64m during the summer, one of his teammates endured a more testing evening at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Arteta must drop Arsenal star
Aside from Gyokeres' penalty strike, Arsenal only amassed an xG total of 0.98 against Everton, and they will need to produce slicker attacking displays going forward.
Expected Goals (xG) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal.
Leandro Trossard accounted for a hefty share of that total, having seen his shot from the left side of the box careen off the post in the first half after tremendous work from Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard in the build-up.
Leandro Trossard for Arsenal
The Belgian has been an incredible asset for the Gunners this season, scoring six goals and supplying five assists across 19 matches in all competitions. He has started only 12 of those fixtures.
This was the 31-year-old's first Premier League start since that demolition job over Tottenham Hotspur in November, but there's a sense that Arteta may consider recalling Gabriel Martinelli to the starting fold after the versatile winger failed to impose himself in the same fashion as he has before.
Leandro Trossard vs Everton
Match Stats
Minutes played
Goals
Assists
Touches
Shots (on target)
Accurate passes
Chances created
Crosses
Dribbles
Recoveries
Tackles won
Duels won
Data via Sofascore
Even so, Trossard was handed a 6/10 match rating by football.london, with the publication acknowledging his bad miss but drawing attention to his creativity, placing emphasis on servicing Gyokeres in the centre. However, he failed with his one attempted dribble and did not fashion a clear-cut chance for any of his teammates.
It's perhaps a measure of Arsenal's strength after years of hard graft in Arteta's system that Trossard wasn't outrageously bad, just a slight weak link in an otherwise industrious and well-oiled performance on the road.
The likes of Martinelli wait in the wings, and if anything, the ability to chop and change, shifting dynamics, gives Arteta the upper hand in his bid to finally get his mitts on the Premier League trophy.
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