Live Blog

Fulltime Thoughts - For 40 minutes Everton looked like a competent football team. Then the mistakes came creeping back in and for the remainder of the game they looked like a side headed for relegation.

90+2’ - Blues simply cannot buy a goal. Gray in space, shoots from a narrow angle, rebound comes to Davies who cannot tuck home as Ramsdale beats it away. There’s the final whistle, mercifully.

90’ - Arsenal corner. Godfrey and Davies combine to clear. Two plus minutes to be added on.

85’ - Arsenal lining up like a shooting gallery here, and the Blues again lucky that it’s only four.

81’ - It was coming, and there’s the fourth. Arsenal’s swagger is matched by the scoreline as Martinelli tucks home from Nketiah’s pass, through Pickford’s legs. 4-0. There will be more goals here at this rate.

78’ - Nketiah through on goal behind the backline, great save from Pickford who blocks the shot and then Fabio Vieira hoofs the rebound over.
Tom Davies is the Blues’ last sub, on for Doucoure.

75’ - Godfrey caught out again and Arsenal can cross into the box, and are lucky to not concede again. Eek.

70’ - Godfrey caught pushing up too high and Trossard finds space behind him, his cutback to Odegaard is perfect and Arsenal lead 3-0. Tarky and Myko both had a nibble but couldn’t clear it.

66’ - Godfrey clatters Trossard, booked.
Odegaard catches Holgate in possession and Arsenal have a corner. Short again, Tarky clears.

63’ - Keane cuts out a cross for a corner. Taken short and partly cleared, ball back into the box and the cross is a bit long and the Blues survive.

62’ - Shot! Good chance for the Blues as they attacked down the left, and McNeil had a shooting opportunity that Ramsdale parried away, very close to the onrushing Doucoure and the Gunners can clear.

60’ - A couple more changes for the Blues, as Demarai Gray and Ben Godfrey are now on, with Maupay and Coleman withdrawn. Still a 4-5-1?

54’ - Maupay brings down a poor clearance and has a whack from distance, but it’s not even in the same time zone as the goal. The Emirates crowd cheer him ironically, he’s not loved by the Gunners at all.

52’ - Michael Oliver books Tarkowski for diving in, deservedly too.

50’ - Arsenal made a change too, bringing Partey on for Jorginho. The Blues are in a 4-5-1 with Holgate directly replacing Gueye as the CDM.

46’ - Dyche has hooked Gana at the break, and sent Mason Holgate on. Curious to see how we line up now.

Halftime Thoughts - I’ve adequately expressed my feelings on the RBM Twitter account.

45’ - Almost a disaster there as Gueye is caught in possession and Martinelli tucks home. Saka caught Gana napping on the ball, feeds Martinelli who scores and the Senegalese midfielder is very very lucky the assistant referee has called it offside.
VAR reviews, says its a goal and Gueye’s shame is complete.

43’ - Everton freekick on the edge of the middle third. McNeil puts it into the box, but Onana is offside.

40 - Ugh Arsenal score. Just as Dyche reminds his players to concentrate, Saka wriggles away to smash home, Arsenal lead 1-0 against Everton who had looked quite comfortable until then.

37’ - Rare spell of possession sees the Blues holding the ball in the Arsenal half for a couple of minutes. Forced to go all the way back eventually.

28’ - Another good counter attacking chance comes to nothing for the Blues as Maupay cannot let off a shot in the box.

23’ - That’s the first quarter of the game navigated well by the Blues. Another three quarters of the game to go.

20’ - Intricate passing play by Iwobi about to create a shooting chance and wins a corner on the right. McNeil inswinger, headed away. Arsenal counter with speed but Martinelli hangs on to the ball too long and Iwobi ushers it out.

18’ - Commentators reminding us that if Arsenal win today, it will be the first time in the English top flight that any team will have 100 wins against any other team.

15’ - Good start from Everton here. Done well without the ball, keeping their shape and the tackling has been on point too. It’s not been one-sided in possession early either, the Blues will have chances on the counter, but not much pace unfortunately.

10’ - Another Arsenal corner, taken short again and by the time they get it in the box the Blues can clear.

8’ - Onana with a poor giveaway in his own half, but works hard to make amends and then springs Doucoure on a break. Doucs’ ball to McNeil on a 3-on-3 break is poor however, and he goes wide to cross, it’s low and Maupay tries a fancy flick but it doesn’t quite come off. Wasted chance.

7’ - Maupay holds the ball up, turns and shoots! Straight at Ramsdale, from the edge of the box.

5’ - Arsenal win a corner off Mykolenko. Taken short, Zinchenko takes a potshot, it’s over and wide.

1’ - Underway at the Emirates.
Gabriel’s arm catches Onana midair and the Everton player is down early on.

Lineups

Sean Dyche has made a change in the backline, and it’s Michael Keane who gets the nod in place of Conor Coady who has been underwhelming in recent games. Mikel Arteta has gone with an unchanged lineup from the side that dominated Leicester City over the weekend.

Everton

Arsenal

Preview

Everton travel to their house of horrors tonight looking to make it an extremely unlikely double against Premier League leaders Arsenal. After a disappointing defeat at home to Aston Villa on Saturday despite playing well (enough), it’ll be interesting to see if Sean Dyche can motivate the troops when they visit the Emirates to get any points even as they sit mired in the relegation zone.

The Blues had beaten the Gunners at Goodison Park in early February in a gritty and tenacious performance, and Mikel Arteta’s side will certainly come ready for revenge in this midweek fixture.

Match Details

Competition: Premier League Matchday 25

Date and start time: Wednesday, March 1st at 11:45 a.m. PT / 2:45 p.m ET / 7:45 p.m. BST

Stadium: Emirates Stadium, London, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 60,704

Weather: 42°F/6°C, mostly cloudy, 2% chance of precipitation, 6 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: USA Network, Universo - United States; BT Sport 1 - United Kingdom; Fubo - Canada, beIN Sports Premium 1, SuperSport Premier League ROA, SuperSport MaXimo 2, Star Sports Select 2

Radio: evertontv, TalkSport Radio UK, SiriusXM FC

Live stream: Fubo, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, Universo Now, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH, Hotstar VIP, JioTV

Gamethread: Live blog above starting one hour before game time

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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Last Meeting

The Blues just beat Arsenal 1-0 thanks to a James Tarkowski header at Goodison Park last month. Their last visit to the Emirates went just as well as most of their previous trips to London with the hosts prevailing 5-1 on the last day of the season in a game of no consequence for either side - the Toffees have only won once at the Emirates since the stadium was opened, and that was behind closed doors during the pandemic.