It’s match day; it’s Everton, and [as I said yesterday](https://www.suburbangooners.com/2026/10/23/can-arsenal-find-a-way-through-everton-early/), it’s going to be another tough one in which an opponent tries to stifle and contain us. This one isn’t going to end up 4-0 to The Arsenal. Everton are going to be a tough nut to crack, whilst also having a fair bit of quality in attack, with Jack Grealish having always caused us problems over the years. Thierno Barry is quick, has three goals already this season, and whilst Moyes didn’t give away any team news in his press conference yesterday, I think they’ll be more or less at full strength as they visit us.
That being said, we need to be mindful of the counter today, because I think Everton will fancy hitting us on the break with the likes of Barry and Grealish, whilst Brennan Johnson will get a bit of a hostile reception as an ex-Scummer, so I suspect he’ll be fired up for this. They also have Tyrique George, who, on the few occasions that I’ve watched him, actually looks like a fair bit of a handful. He’s a tricky player with the ball at his feet, so if we don’t see Grealish start, George will offer similar levels of threat.
But this has to be about how we impose our game on them. We are at home, we are the side expected to drive most of the impetus today; we are the ones that need to get the job done to keep pace with Cheaters FC, who play an in-form Brighton tomorrow at home and will probably get more dodgy decisions for them so they get over the line again. So we need to look after ourselves today and do our job.
And with the news coming out last night that Saka is rumoured to be out for between six and eight weeks, we have ourselves today an interview opportunity for Eze to show that he can do the business on the left wing. Tzolis can’t be far away (although I can’t see any quotes attributed to Arteta related to him yesterday), so Eze probably has today, then maybe Fleetwood away in midweek, before the Greek lad is back. He needs to build on his excellent display in Munich, and I hope we see some of the best from him today.
You’d assume Noni will therefore reprise a more career-familiar role at right wing, and I’m intrigued to see how he gets on now. He has basically been given the keys to the car now that Saka is out, and whilst Dowman is an option and was discussed in the press conference yesterday, I don’t see Arteta not giving Noni a run, so he needs to prove his value. His goal against Forest will have given him a lot of hope; his performance against Munich was ok/good, but now he knows he will play regularly. We need to see him step up. Because he’s going to be the main man basically until Christmas now. Use this to prove your value, Noni.
So with that in mind, my gut feel on the team news today is:
Raya
White – Konsa – Gabriel – Calafiori
Bruno
Odegaard – Rice
Madueke – Havertz – Eze
I do wonder if Arteta will shuffle his deck a little bit, but I landed on a relatively unchanged team because I think he makes a lot of changes for Fleetwood next week. The one I’d be most unsure of is having Bruno in there instead of Myles, but I think that Myles plays at Fleetwood; I think Hincapie, Mosquera, Zubimendi, MLS, Merino, Dowman, Gyokeres – all get starts and minutes in that game. Which means he can keep his main team from Bayern on from the start. I have a question on Havertz, but I think he starts this one again, because I think he is Arteta’s ‘guy’. Big Vik had his second successful cameo and picked up an assist for Rice’s goal on Wednesday night, so I wouldn’t be 100% shocked if he started, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen just yet. I don’t think Havertz was great against Forest or Bayern, but he’s still the better technical player.
Saka aside, however, there are plenty of ‘finishers’ in our team that can come on and make the difference. The strength and depth of this team is phenomenal – evidenced by the names I just reeled off who probably won’t start today but will do in midweek. We have so many options and so many good players, and it’s probably why we have shown the biggest impact of subs from the bench this season – more than any other team, I think. And I suspect we will have to rely on this again today too, given the opponent, as well as our seemingly inevitable inability to put the ball in the ol’ onion bag in the first half. In the Premier League this season, we have two goals that came on matchweek one in the first half against Coventry, then all of our other goals have been scored in the second half. Another slow-starting first half that empowers the opponent (especially one like Everton) would be a real worry for me. Get at them, see if we can score early, and hey, maybe even get a set-piece goal? That would be nice.
It’s that most precious of things today – a three o’clock kick-off – and I’m actually sitting in a different seat than my normal vantage point in the North Bank, so I’ll be interested to see how the game unfolds from the upper tier of the Clock End. Let’s hope I’m not pissing off the locals around me in unfamiliar surroundings with my shouting and hollering. With how I expect Everton to set up, I could very well be.
Back tomorrow with a blog and a pod, so have a great Saturday\* and I’ll see you then.
\*Dependent entirely on Arsenal winning today, of course.