Olivier Giroud’s last-gasp header helped Arsenal recover from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw at Everton.
When the two sides met at Goodison Park last season the Gunners were well beaten 3-0 and at half-time many fans, including myself, would probably have been thinking ‘oh no not again!’. Thankfully two goals in seven minutes rescued us from what could have been an embarrassing defeat.
On the one hand, it was a poor performance. The defending was sloppy and we seemed to lack ideas in large spells of the game and this needs to improve. On reflection, a point at Goodison is a good result. If someone had said to me at the start of the season we would get four points from the opening two games against Crystal Palace and Everton I wouldn’t have been too disheartened.
In terms of results it is a fairly decent start, but Arsene Wenger’s men really need to up their game in the coming weeks if they are to prove real title contenders.
Last season the Gunners won more games on the road than any other side in the Premier League but you wouldn’t have guessed that from this performance as once again they came unstuck against another side from the top five. This is the main factor that needs to change. The Gunners were only seven points off champions Manchester City at the end of last season, but heavy defeats to City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton proved their downfall.
We have the potential to do better this season and have made some shrewd signings, but we really must do better against the other big sides. Do that and we might have a chance!
The season is still in its very early stages so there is still plenty of time for Wenger’s men to take their game up another notch.
Back to the match, and give credit where credit is due, Everton are a hard nut to crack and for most of the match were excellent. Some focused on our deficiencies but Everton deserved their lead before we snatched a point.
There were question marks over the defending for the opening goal when Gareth Barry crossed the ball in and Romelu Lukaku was left totally unmarked. Lukaku unselfishly left the ball for Seamus Coleman to head home after 19 minutes.
It went from bad to worse for Arsenal when the hosts doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time. The usually reliable Per Mertesacker was outmuscled by Lukaku before the former Chelsea man powered past Calum Chambers and slid the ball through to Steven Naismith, who calmly slotted the ball beyond Wojciech Szczęsny. Naismith’s effort looked offside but the Toffees were more than deserving of their two-goal advantage.
Arsenal improved after the break and Giroud, who replaced Alexis Sanchez for the second half, looked lively and almost made an instant impact but his volley went over the bar.
It is hard to really assess Sanchez so far. He still looks a bit off the pace but I think he should be given a few more games before we can really tell how he is adapting to life in England’s top flight. As for Giroud, he continued to try and get us back into the game and forced Tim Howard into a save before the American shot-stopper was beaten by two late goals.
Substitute Santi Cazorla’s low cross was tapped home by the ever-reliable goal hero Aaron Ramsey seven minutes from time.
The Gunners’ were poor for large spells but showed excellent resilience in the second half and completed their comeback right at the death, instead of falling apart as they had done in some losing positions last season.
It looked like Ramsey had overhit his cross but Nacho Monreal managed to keep it in play and he crossed the ball back into the box for Giroud to head in to seal a valuable point for the visitors.
Arsenal will need to show vast improvement when they host Besiktas in the second leg of their Champions League play-off at the Emirates next week. With home games against Manchester City and bitter rivals Tottenham looming next month, this will be a testing time and the Gunners will need to make sure they hit the top of their game to get positive results.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
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