Arsenal's victory sends them top of the league for the
first time since February 2014, underlining their title
credentials. It wasn't the prettiest win; they started
slowly and conceded before half-time when they'd
appeared in a commanding position, meaning there was
more tension than necessary going into the second half.
Their two goals came in the space of 106 first-half
seconds, two headers from two Frenchman: Olivier
Giroud and Laurent Koscielny. When the former opened
the scoring, it seemed inevitable a second would follow
shortly, because this is generally what Arsenal do: They
play in spells.
Their goals in the recent 3-0 thrashing of Manchester
United, for example, came in the space of 13 minutes,
which was exactly the same period of time a trio were
scored against Watford a week ago.
It's rare to see Arsenal play scintillating football for an
entire match, but when they have momentum, they're
capable of blowing away opponents. Few teams are so
dependent upon confidence and the quality of
atmosphere at the Emirates are also largely based
around form.
Arsenal's game management, though, was poor. They
pushed men forward and left themselves open to
counter-attacks and the drop in intensity in the second
half was very noticeable. It was hugely surprising
Wenger didn't introduce a substitute until the 82nd
minute, as Arsenal badly needed fresh legs at an earlier
stage.
Even then, it was odd to see sub Mathieu Flamini fielded
in a relatively attacking role. He had a headed chance
which would have wrapped up the game but missed and
Everton immediately broke quickly, leading to an
excellent Gerard Deulofeu chance which Petr Cech did
well to save.
How long Arsenal stay in first depends heavily on
Manchester City, who travel to Old Trafford for the derby
on Sunday knowing that victory will send them back to
the top of the table.
Either way, Arsenal must remain focused; it's worth
remembering that the last time they were the league
leaders, they were subsequently thrashed 5-1 at
Liverpool. This time around, they must maintain their
good form to stand a chance of lifting the title.
2. Giroud takes his chance
Following two goals as a sub in the victories over
Watford and Bayern Munich, Giroud was handed a start
at the expense of recent regular Theo Walcott. Clearly,
the Frenchman is an entirely different proposition to his
English teammate, offering strength and height rather
than raw speed.
The use of Giroud changes the way Arsenal play, and at
times they missed the option of Walcott sprinting in
behind the opposition. Alexis Sanchez played a little
higher than usual on the left flank to provide some of
that speed, but the hosts didn't have a cutting edge in
more central positions.
Mesut Ozil rarely sprinted beyond Giroud and Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain doesn't have the same goal-
scoring instincts as Aaron Ramsey, who was absent
through injury. After Everton had looked particularly
sluggish at the back during last weekend's 3-0 home
defeat to Manchester United, omitting Walcott seemed
like an error.
But then, Giroud offers his own qualities and that's
entirely the point. Arsenal don't have a carbon copy of
their first-choices in reserve -- they have tactical
options -- and Giroud's major involvements summarised
his style.
Early on, he threatened when darting towards the near
post in search of a low right-wing cross, his trademark
move. Midway through the first half he beat Phil
Jagielka and John Stones to an aerial ball and headed
into Ozil's path toward goal only to be harshly adjudged
to have committed a foul.
And then came the opener, 10 minutes before half-time.
Ozil strolled out to the right and whipped in a beautiful
left-footed cross onto the head of Giroud, who beat Tim
Howard to the ball and nodded in. It was a goal Walcott
wouldn't have scored.
Giroud had further chances: He nearly reached a low
Oxlade-Chamberlain cross from the right, and on 70
minutes curled a wonderful left-footed shot onto the
crossbar from an inside-right position.
Giroud was constantly dangerous, which justified
Wenger's selection to start him and also rewarded
Arsenal's change in approach with the ball, as they
consciously provided Giroud with a different type of
service from Walcott. That might seem like common
sense, but Arsenal have often been guilty of overlooking
such details.
3. Everton disappoint as Howard struggles
Everton arrived at the Emirates determined to play on
the counter-attack, with manager Roberto Martinez
fielding two wingers in Deulofeu and Aaron Lennon,
while also encouraging his players to hit the ball
forward quickly to Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku.
Peculiarly, the approach worked better when Everton
were trailing. At 0-0 they offered little, with Barkley
struggling to influence the game and only a couple of
set-piece chances seriously threatening Cech. They'd
barely shown any good football in open play by the time
Arsenal took a two-goal lead.
At 2-0 down this reactive approach should logically
have been less viable against a team happy to sit back
and preserve their lead, but Arsenal pushed too many
men ahead of the ball when losing possession, which
gave Everton space to break into and flashes of good
play followed.
Deulofeu drifted in and out of the game but was
responsible for his side's best moments. A run and pass
teed up Barkley's heavily deflected goal and the
Spaniard also made a dangerous burst through the
defence which ended, disappointingly, with a disgraceful
dive.
In the second half, his burst of pace down the right
nearly resulted in another good chance for Barkley, with
Gabriel making a timely intervention. Deulofeu is very
inconsistent -- as you might expect from a 21-year-old
winger -- but he's also very dangerous.
Everton had chances to score a late equaliser. 12
minutes from time, a left-wing cross by Gareth Barry,
who would later be sent off, was headed onto the top of
the crossbar by Lukaku and, eight minutes later, Cech
denied Deulofeu by showing great anticipation and speed
off his line.
The same can't be said of Everton's goalkeeper and this
will be a major Martinez concern. Tim Howard hasn't
performed well for more than a season now, essentially
since his heroics for the United States at last year's
World Cup. At the Emirates, he was guilty of not
commanding his six-yard box properly, allowing Giroud
and Koscielny to nip in ahead of him and score two very
similar goals.
Howard ended the game with the captain's armband
after Jagielka's injury, but he's hardly leading by
example. He's somewhat fortunate Everton don't have a
more reliable back-up than Joel Robles, or else the
American might find himself dropped for essentially the
first time in his 10 seasons at Goodison Park.
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