The Joe Thomas verdict from the Emirates Stadium as Everton lose a game 2-0 at Premier League leaders Arsenal they so easily could have won
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 14: David Moyes, Manager of Everton, reacts during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Everton at Emirates Stadium on March 14, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
David Moyes reacts during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Everton at Emirates Stadium on March 14, 2026 in London, England
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The disappointment from this defeat will linger but this was a performance that should provide hope that Everton can still achieve the unthinkable.
After years of chaos on and off the pitch, that there lies the potential to qualify for Europe with eight games to go represents an astonishing change in fortunes. For the Blues to reach the promised land of midweek football on the continent, however, they will need to pick up good results against teams chasing bigger prizes - Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool still lie in wait.
But if David Moyes takes anything away from this 2-0 defeat at the home of the probable champions of England, and potential champions of Europe, it is that his side should fear no-one. In the end, it was the opportunism of a £64m striker in the 90th minute that decided this game. That is how fine the margins were, with teenage wonderkid Max Dowman adding a gloss deep in stoppage time that came only from Everton’s desperation for an equaliser.
The Blues ended this game fighting for a point but if they had left with all three, it would not have been a smash and grab victory. Three times Moyes had his head in his hands. The first came when defender Riccardo Calafiori acrobatically stretched to block a Dwight McNeil effort inside the area. The Emirates thought Everton were going to score.
The second came minutes later, when McNeil cut inside and unleashed a glorious, curling effort that defeated David Raya but not the far post. The Emirates thought Everton were going to score.
The third came when a second half free-kick glanced off the back of a defender and drifted just wide of Raya’s post. The Emirates thought Everton were going to score.
There were other moments, too, most notably when Beto spun Martin Zubimendi and forced Raya into an exceptional save with his legs from close range. Had any of those chances found the back of the net, there could have been few complaints.
At the other end, Arsenal tested Jordan Pickford but while his area was placed under serious pressure, the hosts created few clear opportunities. Their best required a stunning early save by Pickford that was ruled irrelevant when the offside flag then went up against Bukayo Saka. Then England No.1 cursed when he realised he could not celebrate another incredible feat of resistance.
In the second half, the Gunners threatened to overwhelm the Blues and when Eberechi Eze curled inches wide of Pickford’s far post there was a sense the goal the leaders wanted so badly would surely come.
But Everton survived that storm and dealt with most of what Arsenal could throw at them, led by the centre-back partnership of Michael Keane and Jake O’Brien, a pairing unexpectedly thrown together after first-choice Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski were both deemed unavailable.
Keane stood out, clearing the set-pieces the Gunners are notoriously dangerous from and making several crucial interventions in and around the edge of his box. He escaped calls for a first half penalty after Kai Havertz went to ground as the pair tussled, with referee Andy Madley waving play-on and VAR backing his call by deeming the contact between the pair “minimal” but was otherwise unnerved.
O’Brien burnished his credentials with another impressive display in his favoured position - this pair last played together in the final game of last season, when they kept a clean sheet in a win at a Newcastle United side chasing Champions League football. They deserved a similar outcome in north London.
That was not to be, however. With a valuable point minutes away, Everton’s hearts were broken by 16-year-old Dowman. Pickford has done so much to save his team-mates in recent months but was caught under a deep cross from the teenager. A lapse of concentration was compounded by misfortune as the ball hit Piero Hincapie and bounced kindly towards Gyokeres, who could not miss.
When Pickford went up for a corner in the 97th minute it made sense - there was little to lose. Instead of becoming a hero he was left watching from afar as James Garner’s cross was cleared and Dowman left Vitalii Mykolenko and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on the floor before running the ball into an empty net.
The Emirates erupted, the away side crumpled. But if they reproduce these levels in their final eight games then Europe is well within reach.