Key events
Sky is showing an important moment from the other game, in which Newcastle lead Chelsea 1-0. The moment occurred in the Chelsea huddle, which took place with the ref in the middle of it. Seriously. I shudder to think how many memes this will inspire.
“Not all Arsenal fans are nervy quite yet,” says Zach Neeley. “Personally, whatever bad thing might happen today, this season feels like the real pain will be later. City will then do something wrong to put us back in it, then the actual death blow will come in April.” So, not nervy yet, but somewhat gloomy?
“Their fans might not forgive me for saying it,” says Simon McMahon, promisingly, “but I think if Arsenal win tonight, the league title is pretty much a done deal. To borrow a cricket phrase, runs on the board, and scoreboard pressure for the chasing side. Though Arsenal being English, there’s always the possibility of a late collapse. It’s never over till it’s over…”
I’m not sure this match makes much difference to the title race, unless Arsenal mess it up. The key will surely be their trip to the Etihad: if they can get a draw there, that all but settles it.
HALF-TIME! Arsenal 0-0 Everton
Everton win the 50th minute, as McNeil sends a cross in from the right. And that’s half-time, with Arsenal wondering how they haven’t turned 13 shots into one goal. Perhaps because only two of them have been on target, the same as Everton have managed in their occasional forays upfield.
“It’s been a nervy watch for Arsenal fans,” says Alan Smith. Aren’t they all?
45+4 min Mykolenko lofts a hopeful ball towards Beto, who can’t shake off the attentions of Gabriel.
45+3 min Havertz wins a free kick in a fashion Tim Stappard would not approve of. Arsenal knock the ball around. Everton scrap but can’t escape. Zubimendi almost carves out enough room to shoot. Saliba tries a through ball to Saka but overhits it, showing why Arsenal need Timber.
45+1 min The first of five added minutes.
45 min Arsenal add another three to their collection of shots. Two are blocked and one is blazed into Row Z.
44 min Arsenal proceed smoothly through midfield with some well-aimed headers, and eventually win a corner.
“Alan Smith is absolutely wrong,” says Tim Stappard. “Blatant dive by Havertz and why no yellow?” Presumably because the ref didn’t think it was a dive, blatant or otherwise.
41 min Everton win a free kick, 35 yards out. Raya comes for it and scuffs his attempted punch. Saliba is on the grass, off the pitch, after being caught, possibly by Raya. Friendly fire!
40 min The sub Arteta sent on is not Ben White, as you might have expected, but Cristhian Mosquera.
39 min Close! That man Calafiori gets a flick-on from a corner and Everton do well to keep it out at the far post, with Keane keeping calm and heading away.
37 min Saka goes on a slalom and very nearly gets a cut-back in. More significantly, Mikel Arteta is having to make a substitution: Jurrien Timber is going off injured.
36 min Rice takes the free kick … and can’t get it over the wall.
35 min While Arsenal hold a committee meeting, Everton put down a draft excluder.
34 min Saka, who looks as if he’s returning to form, twists and turns and wins a free kick 25 yards out.
32 min Another shot from Everton! It’s well struck by the busy Dewsbury-Hall but comfortably saved by Raya, low to his left.
30 min As the half-hour ticks over, Dewsbury-Hall shapes to dance through the midfield before being outnumbered. A camera finds Martin Odegaard in the stand, wearing baggy pale jeans and going in for a bit of a manspread.
29 min There have been three shots in the past 14 minutes, and they’ve all come from Everton. Arsenal do get into the box now, with Rice, but Garner times his tackle just well enough.
28 min As Everton escape, there’s another good cross from the gifted Ndiaye, but this time nobody is there to meet it.
26 min Arsenal knock it around in the final third. Havertz and Saka swap places for a moment and Havertz wins a corner. “It’s a foul all day long,” says Alan Smith as the Keane-Havertz incident is replayed. Saka’s corner finds the head of Calafiori, but the whistle has already gone for an Everton free kick.
24 min Eze slips a lovely little through ball to Havertz, who goes down as Keane attends to him. The crowd bay for a penalty, the ref isn’t interested, and the VAR agrees.
23 min Everton live dangerously at the back, but Gueye clears up a mess of his own making.
22 min In this game, Arsenal have resumed their dominance after being rudely interrupted. A long string of passes ends with Saliba overhitting a cross.
20 min Meanwhile, at Stamford Bridge, Newcastle have taken the lead. A tap-in for Anthony Gordon, laid on by Joe Willock.
18 min Two chances! For Everton!! Both to Dwight McNeil. Ndiaye gets away down the left and sends in a cross which Raya can only help on to McNeil. Calafiori gets in a superb block with what may be a scorpion kick. The ball finds McNeil again and he slaloms in from the right to send a screamer into the post – but the flag was up. Still, a glimmer of hope for Everton.
16 min Everton get upfield for once and Raya sends a clearance all the way through to Pickford.
15 min Arsenal’s turn to counter. Madueke goes flying down the left. Keane gives him a hefty shove (outside the area) and gets away with it.
15 min David Moyes wags a finger at the fourth official, I’m not sure why.
13 min Save! Or it would be if Saka wasn’t offside. His header brings a fabulous reflex twist and paw out of Pickford.
13 min Arsenal have already had five shots, one fewer than they had in 90 minutes at Leverkusen. Two of them have come from Calafiori, who has made a noticeable difference.
11 min The game has already settled into a pattern, which resembles a siege. Zubimendi has a shot blocked and then Saka hits one wide.
9 min The corner is not taken short. It’s cleared, then a cross comes in which is headed into the mixer by Gabriel. Zubimendi does some juggling, then tees up Calafiori, who can’t keep his volley down.
8 min Everton threatened a counter from the corner, but Rice, moving more easily now, put paid to that. And now we have another Arsenal corner, won by Calafiori.
6 min Surprise! Arsenal take the corner short. It yields a shot that is comfortably saved by Jordan Pickford – in his 350th game for Everton.
5 min Arsenal ease forward and Eberechi Eze wins a free kick. It’s taken quickly, leading to a throw. Calafiori hurls it into the box and the upshot is … an Arsenal corner.
4 min These are the first four minutes Everton have played in the league this season without James Tarkowski. So far, so good.
3 min When Arsenal make it over the halfway line, Havertz drops deep for his first touch and is immediately dispossessed.
2 min Arsenal get some possession without emerging from their own half.
1 min Everton kick off and go up-and-under. This leads to a sniff of a chance, instantly snuffed out by William Saliba. Declan Rice goes down wincing, then gets up, limping.
The players are out there. Bukayo Saka, Arsenal’s stand-in captain, leads his team as they hand-slap their way along the Everton line. Mikel Arteta greets David Moyes with the obligatory hug, plus a broad smile. The crowd sing North London Forever and give themselves a round of applause.
“Bayern have just drawn 1-1 at Leverkusen too,” says Lenny Peters. “So it’s clearly a tough place to go.”
How bad were Arsenal in midweek? Not as bad as the other English teams in the Champions League. Their 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen didn’t look good at the time but turned out to be the best result of the round by a PL club, equal with Newcastle (1-1 v Barcelona) and arguably better because Arsenal will be at home for the second leg. But quite a few Arsenal fans seem to feel their team are a bit jaded: it will be interesting to see if Havertz, Calafiori and Madueke can galvanise them.
The sun is shining in north London. But maybe not for long – the Met Office says there’s a 20pc chance of rain in Highbury between 6 and 7pm, rising to 30pc in the hour after that.
Late drama? No. So Bournemouth had to settle for a point at Burnley, which makes it six draws in nine league games since they let Antoine Semenyo go. And Sunderland went down to a rare home defeat to Brighton, which may have been decreed by the gods of symmetry. Sunderland now have 10 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats, and so do Brighton. The upshot is that Sunderland slide to 12th and Brighton soar to 10th. Between the two are Fulham, who have a game in hand.
We’re into added time in the 3pm kick-offs, with only one goal so far in the Premier League. Do join Will Unwin to see if there’s any late drama.
An email has landed! It’s from Dan Hoskins, who’s picking up on the opening paragraph of my preamble. “Good afternoon Tim,” he says. “Respectfully, could we call it the Kevin Campbell Derby? A player and man close to all our hearts at both clubs, whose character is missed by us all I think.” Point taken.
Fun fact
According to our friends at Sky, this is the first Arsenal starting XI to feature both Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz since December 2024, when they lined up against Crystal Palace. As well as a syllable, they share a quicksilver intelligence, so maybe Saka will be back to his best this evening.
Teams in full
Both teams have players missing, but one team looks way stronger than the other. Arsenal’s only worry might be if Martin Zubimendi gets clattered early on: their bench consists of a goalie, four defenders, two wingers and two centre-forwards. Presumably Myles Lewis-Skelly will slot into midfield if needed.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Zubimendi, Rice, Eze; Saka, Havertz, Madueke.
Subs: Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapié, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Gyokeres, Jesus, Martinelli.
Everton (4-2-3-1) Pickford; Garner, O’Brien, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Iroegbunam; Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall, McNeil; Beto.
Subs: Travers, Coleman, Aznou, Patterson, Armstrong, Dibling, Rohl, George, Barry.
Teams in brief: Havertz in, Tarkowski out
Mikel Arteta shuffles the pack, giving Kai Havertz his first start at centre-forward for quite a while and refreshing his left flank – out go Piero Hincapié and Gabriel Martinelli, in come Riccardo Calafiori and Noni Madueke.
For Everton, it’s all change at the back. James Tarkowski and Jarrod Branthwaite are missing, presumed injured, so Michael Keane comes in, Jake O’Brien slides across from right-back, James Garner takes his place there, and Tim Iroegbunam gets a start in midfield. What a shame for Tarkowski, especially: he would have loved all the argy-bargy at corners.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to what was, once upon a time, the Alan Ball derby. If we can believe the rumour mill, it may soon be the Myles Lewis-Skelly derby. For now, though, it’s definitely the Mikel Arteta derby.
In his days as a classy midfielder, Arsenal’s manager played more games for Everton than for anyone else. He was brought into English football by David Moyes, his opposite number this evening. The two of them have something in common which happens a lot in most walks of life and all too seldom in football: they’ve made their job their own.
Moyes is in his 13th year as Everton’s manager and they haven’t sacked him yet. Arteta, in his seventh year managing Arsenal, is the second longest-serving Premier League boss after Pep Guardiola. Not that durability guarantees entertainment. Since Moyes returned to Everton 14 months ago, his meetings with Arteta have been taciturn affairs.
In the last days of Goodison Park there was a 1-1, with Everton’s goal coming from a penalty by Iliman Ndiaye and Arsenal’s in open play from Leandro Trossard, assisted by Raheem Sterling (remember him?). Just before Christmas, at the Hill Dickinson, there was a 1-0 to Arsenal that came down to two penalty decisions. Arsenal won one, converted by Viktor Gyokeres. Everton thought they had one late on, when William Saliba kicked Thierno Barry in mid-air, but the VAR considered it “insignificant contact”.
There will be plenty of contact tonight, much of it significant. These are two big, strong, bellicose teams, who may well lay on a treat for connoisseurs of pushing and shoving.
Arsenal are top of the league, as you know, and also top of the home table in terms of points per game with 2.5, just ahead of Man City on 2.4. But Everton are top of the away form table (which covers the past six away games for each club) with 14 points, no defeats and a handsome set of victories – at Forest, Villa, Fulham and Newcastle.
Can they win at the Emirates too? Probably not, as no visitors from outside the top six have managed so much as a draw in the league this season: only Man United have gone home with all three points, and only Man City and Liverpool with one. But Moyes, who used to have a dismal record here, did win 2-0 on his last visit, with West Ham.
I warmed up for this game by going to watch Arsenal’s Under-21s last night. They too were at home, facing a smaller club who were wearing blue – Leicester City. And they lost 5-1.