well good evening from the football hotbed that is merseyside we find ourselves tonight at
goodison park i'm derek ray and i'm joined here on the gantry for commentary by stuart robson
i'm very much looking forward to bringing you action from the premier league
it's everton up against arsenal thanks derek well both managers will be reminding their
players of starting the game quickly hitting the opposition back playing the ball forward and
regaining possession as quickly as possible hopefully we get a really good game here
and here's how everton line up jordan pickford is the keeper luca dina plays with seamus coleman in
the pullback positions alain starts alongside abdullah dukury in central midfield and the
idea is to have just the one striker up there trying to pose problems for the opposition
is the goalkeeper nicola pepe starts with bukayo saka in the wide areas
and leading the line today is the hard to defend against pierre-emerick aubameyang
and the match is underway
alan
and he read it well
oh a lovely ball he just needs to stay level-headed really good timing
stopped to make sure the threat came to nothing
who can they pick out making sure nothing untoward happened
determined defending
and over comes the corner well he was under a bit
of pressure but he'll feel he should have done a bit better with the header
coleman
well he likes to run at them coleman
gray
town's end i'll dealt with that ball comfortably
and he was in the right place to intercept
nice looking pass coleman everton moving the ball forwards what can they do from here
well they're keeping their opponents moving and guessing
can they do something positive on the counter attack
well they seem to be on to something positive but it faded away
possibilities inside the box pumps clear
well the keeper has outdone himself wonderful
save well at first glance you would think a strong possibility of a red card let's see and with that
he's been dismissed well they're going to be under pressure now that's a needless sending off
ben white el nenny and the body in the way no play stopped it is a free kick
this to open the scoring here and the penalty is converted a goal is his and now he can exhale
let's take another look he deceives the goalkeeper really well here by getting
to dive one way before placing it into the opposite side a really good penalty
well they keep working away looking for passing lanes
a really top-notch piece of defending
as you can see arsenal are seeing less of the ball but when they have
won it back in midfield areas their counter attacking has been excellent
they'll be happy with the way the game's going at the moment
chambers promising attack miss and a long way out a terrific piece of goalkeeping
delivering it and a goalkeeper in great form
and he's just pulled off an absolutely stunning save there that is brilliant
still on just failing to hit the target with his pass and it'll be a throw-in
so on the cusp of the half-time interval it's arsenal holding the edge here stuart time for
your assessment of what you've seen from them well i think they've been the better
side in this first half they're defended well they've looked dangerous in attack
and they've controlled the midfield it's been a solid performance so far
well they've given him too much space covert lewin poor pass under no real pressure
well the managers will now deliver the halftime team talks we're at the end of 45 minutes in
this game pierre-emerick aubameyang a formidable striker no two ways about that and delivering here
stuart well i thought he had a really effective first half not only did he get the goal that gave
him the lead but his general play was really good he was a constant threat and i'm sure we'll see
more of him in the second half and the ball moving again work to do for everton in the second half
alan
mason holgate with it
everton moving the ball forward with purpose
great block
a really sumptuous ball he had a bit of work to do and getting to that through ball the goalkeeper
and continues his run
but nothing comes of it good defending it was racing forward trying to catch them out
until they have the guile to open up the defense crossing into the middle well a
fantastic counter attack as they move through the gears but not a brilliant end product
will everything look good until the finish but that shows how dangerous they are on the break
so deciding to make a personnel change at this juncture
this could be dangerous alan now we're into the final half hour
and a good looking pass on the offensive
still behind but the pressure mounting well didn't go as a plan in the end
jacker with it and it wasn't a great pass was it
well the stats don't lie everton have had a lot of possession but without really
creating enough chances they've almost passed the ball for the sake of it they
need to start getting it into their front players much quicker to get back into this
well they must exercise caution standing off as they are well read to ease the pressure
tierney
and it's played into the center well the clearance half-hearted
the final quarter of an hour now alain not really the ideal clearance can he make it count
oh right in the nick of time
well let's see what they have in store for them on the break
can he finish well it might still work out for them and the keeper was finally able to claim
it well what a great piece of goalkeeping firstly the save and then the recovery brilliant from him
well not long left now but these everton fans still believe they can get back into this one
on you go says the referee advantage there might very well be late excitement five minutes left him
with a chance oh tight offside decision but the flag does go up and it is substitution time at
or not arsenal can preserve the victory stewarts what have you made of their performance
well it's going to be a nervy end to this game high degree of difficulty
to hit it on the volley like that and it was close
well his skill level is so high you're absolutely right that's a great effort on the volleys
alan
they are making headway but really they need a goal with time not on their side
well the referee has instructed the fourth official to put two minutes on the board
deserves credit for winning the ball back
and the referee blows his whistle now we can say it officially arsenal have won this game
three points for them what did you make of it all well derek it was very competitive
chances at both ends but i feel they were the better team and they deserve their victory
well the strikers go pierre-emerick aubameyang is among the best really
knows where the goal is stuart well he obviously scored the winning goal
but it was his overall performance that impressed me most he was on fire today