Paul Wheelock with the Everton talking points from the 2-0 Premier League defeat to defending champions Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Everton's Tyler Dibling under pressure from Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori and Noni Madueke during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Arsenal FC and Everton at Emirates Stadium on October 24, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Silvina Brodersohn - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Tyler Dibling under pressure from Riccardo Calafiori and Noni Madueke during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Everton (Image: Silvina Brodersohn - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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It's not just Everton's position in the table that is slipping. So is their goal difference.
Back-to-back 2-0 defeats, at home to Chelsea last weekend and now here away to Arsenal, means the Blues have dropped to ninth in the standings with a -1 goal difference.
Now, as hard as it is for Evertonians to accept, particularly given the ridiculously long wait for a win in front of supporters at the Emirates Stadium and Highbury before that, but their side were always likely to lose to the defending champions, who have now won their last seven Premier League matches at home.
But what will disappoint David Moyes and his players is the manner of the goals they conceded - which was a similar story to the two previous weekends.
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Teams as expensively assembled as Chelsea and Arsenal have the quality, both in their starting XIs and off the bench, to open you up.
And while there is no question that those sides ultimately deserved to beat Everton, when watching the Gunners game back, Moyes and his coaching staff will be frustrated with how the deciding goals came about.
The Blues defended valiantly throughout, particularly captain James Tarkowski, his centre-back partner Jake O’Brien and young midfielder Harrison Armstrong, who once more impressed, and it's hard to recall Jordan Pickford having a serious save to make, but let themselves down when conceding from a corner for the first time this season.
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Arsenal, as is well-documented, are dead-ball experts, but it was actually their first non-penalty set-piece goal of the 2026-27 campaign, and they were certainly given a helping hand in scoring it, with Pickford flapping at a punch and Vitalii Mykolenko then failing to clear the ball before Ezri Konsa gratefully bundled it home.
And while the Gunners' second goal didn't directly come from a set-piece, it did come from a second phase following a corner, and while Ben White's delivery to the back post was good, the man who headed it home, one-time Blues transfer target Gabriel Magalhees, was left completely unmarked, as was substitute Kai Havertz.
In mitigation, Everton were missing Jarrad Branthwaite, but the star defender was in their team for the preceding games against Chelsea and Hull City, when they also gave away two poor goals.
With their resources limited after a shocking end to the transfer window under wantaway owners The Friedkin Group, the Blues are not going to be a side that create a glut of chances. So it's essential they stop gifting goals at the other end.
Time for Tyler
That said, Everton did have opportunities in north London. They responded well to Konsa's seventh-minute opener with James Garner testing David Raya, who spilled the midfielder's shot before gathering up the loose ball just when Armstrong looked set to pounce. The Arsenal goalkeeper also saved from Thierno Barry, while Tyrique George and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, either side of the break, went close.
But the Blues never troubled the Gunners in the way they did in last season's corresponding clash and they ended the encounter with a meagre 0.48 xG.
In mitigation again, Everton missed Jack Grealish, who is averaging 2.6 chances created per 90 so far this season, but there's no disputing their attack has just not clicked in the past two matches and, just as against Chelsea, Saturday's contest was effectively and dispiritingly over long before the final whistle.
And no player in the Blues attack struggled more to make an impact than Brennan Johnson, who touched the ball just 10 times during his 72 minutes on the pitch.
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Brennan Johnson of Everton during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Arsenal FC and Everton at Emirates Stadium on October 24, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Brennan Johnson struggled to make an impact for Everton against Arsenal (Image: Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
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In contrast, his replacement, Tyler Dibling, who was ready to come on at the point when Gabriel doubled Arsenal's lead, touched the ball 24 times.
Should Grealish return for Thursday's Carabao Cup last-16 tie at home to Newcastle United, he may take his place on one of the wings with George on the other. But, as big as the match is, it feels the time to give Dibling a chance to show what he can do from the start.
Ref justice
The travelling Evertonians were more worried about getting back to their cars, coaches and trains after yet another miserable trip to the home of the Gunners.
But, as the final whistle went, it was clear the Blues players and Moyes were still furious with referee Tony Harrington, who they felt had given the Gunners far too many 50-50 decisions, in the first half in particular.
At the end of the opening period, the Everton manager was caught by the television cameras speaking sternly to Harrington, who at one stage in the game inexplicably stopped a promising attack from the visitors because Gabriel had gone down with a leg injury. As the Blues would soon painfully find out, the Brazilian was fine.
The man in the middle later booked Moyes who, when asked after the match about why, said: "I don't know. I felt for (the referee) today because I thought he was really poor, so I felt for him." Skipper Tarkowski, victim of a seemingly harsh caution himself, also had to bite his lip in his post-game interviews.
But while not the reason they lost, Harrington's performance would have not helped the mood as Everton made the journey back to Merseyside to prepare for the visit of Newcastle. It's an important one.
Everton boss David Moyes