_The day’s Arsenal news in the time it takes to drink a coffee. Every morning, free._
Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 at a rain-soaked Emirates on Saturday because both centre-backs scored, Ezri Konsa early on and Gabriel Magalhães midway through the second half. Mikel Arteta made five changes from the side that drew with Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Ben White and Myles Lewis-Skelly came in along with Mikel Merino, Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres. Bukayo Saka missed the game with his quad injury, and if the estimate of six to eight weeks out holds, rotating this heavily and still winning is how Arteta will have to get through the autumn.
Konsa's goal came after seven minutes, when Gabriel flicked on a Martin Odegaard corner and Konsa pounced from close range for his first goal for the club. It was Arsenal's first set-piece goal of the campaign.
David Raya protected the lead when he beat Thierno Barry in a one-on-one at 1-0. Gabriel needed lengthy treatment after landing awkwardly on a clearance, and Cristhian Mosquera was stripped and ready before Gabriel was able to carry on. With 25 minutes left Arteta sent on Riccardo Calafiori, Bruno Guimaraes and Kai Havertz for Lewis-Skelly, Merino and Gyokeres. Gabriel's goal came in the 68th minute (the 69th by one count) when Odegaard sent White away on the overlap. White's cross to the back post got past Havertz for Gabriel to power in, and replays showed White had been onside. Saturday's was his 14th headed Premier League goal, level with Ian Wright and behind only Olivier Giroud's 27 for Arsenal. Declan Rice and Eze later made way for Martin Zubimendi and Max Dowman, though Zubimendi took a knock shortly after coming on.
Manchester City had lost at Aston Villa earlier in the day, so the win takes Arsenal level on points with the leaders. After Saturday both sides have 21 points from eight games, and only goal difference keeps City top at +11 to Arsenal's +8. Getting there with five changes and without Saka matters more than the margin, because Fleetwood Town away on Tuesday and Liverpool at Anfield next Sunday will ask the same of this squad.
Arteta pointed to the rotation first. "The fact we changed five players and still played at that level, it's impressive," he said. He also had a dig at anyone who'd been saying Arsenal can't score from set plays: "I hope now people are enjoying it." He was booked for leaving his technical area, and he says he's keeping a "massive storage of images" of other managers doing the same without punishment. "It was only right I got it today," said Konsa, who'd been waiting a while for his first goal. David Moyes, on his 14th visit to the stadium as Everton manager, said "a couple of people turned off" for the second goal.
Calafiori finished Saturday's game at left wing after Noni Madueke dropped back to left-back, and Arteta said afterwards that whatever is bothering him isn't understood yet but looks minor.
For Arsenal Women, a 2-1 win at Tottenham on Saturday lunchtime ended a run of five WSL games without a win, and they had to come from behind to get it. Tandberg rose above Steph Catley to head in Pelova's corner on 13 minutes (12 by one count), but Georgia Stanway hit back four minutes later by slamming Alessia Russo's pull-back past Kop. Russo won it from the spot on 56 minutes after Lisa Baum's shot came back off the post and Tandberg's clearance struck Morris on the arm. Renée Slegers had brought in Caitlin Foord, Catley and Taylor Hinds, and she singled out Foord as "a fighter and a warrior on the pitch today." Leah Williamson sprinted to the away end at the final whistle, where nearly 4,000 Arsenal fans had stood in the rain. Slegers called it "the first step in the right direction", and sixth place on nine points from seven games is the reason she's right not to make more of it than that.
In the academy, Arsenal's Under-21s lost 4-1 away at Leicester City.
_Enjoyed that? Get tomorrow’s Arsenal news in your inbox before you’ve finished your coffee. Free, every morning._