Arsenal will be heading to Goodison Park on Sunday to play against Everton. Arsenal will be high on confidence after winning against Red Star Belgrade on Thursday in the Europa League match. But Everton’s poor form in Europe continued as they had lost their 3rd consecutive matches in the Group Stage.
Arsenal’s win against sees them take charge of Group H with a 5-point lead at the half-way mark. Arsenal keep an away clean sheet in a European game for the first time since the 3-0 win at Olympiakos in 2015.
Olivier Giroud has now scored 15 goals in Europe for Arsenal. 50 of Olivier Giroud’s 101 goals for Arsenal have been scored through headers or volleys. Olivier Giroud has been directly involved in eight goals in his last eight starts in Europe.
Wenger on Giroud’s performance against Red Star Belgrade ,”At some stage, he came to the touchline & told me we will score.”
“That’s Giroud, he keeps belief when it’s tough. That’s why he scores at moments you do not expect him to score.”
Everton Boss Ronald Koeman sounded very sad after losing against Lyon on Thursday.
“We made too many mistakes,” Koeman said. “It was thanks to Jordan Pickford that the score was only 2-1. We started well but made a really stupid fault after just five minutes.
“I have no complaints, it was the right decision from the referee to give a penalty, but there were a lot more mistakes and bad decisions after that. That’s what we are looking at the moment: doubts, errors, and players without confidence. I know from my playing days what that does to you.”
When and Where :
Everton vs Arsenal will be held on Sunday, 22 October and game kick-off time is 18:00 IST at Goodison Park.
Team News :
Arsenal are missing Santi Cazorla and Danny Welbeck as they look for their third win at Goodison Park in the last four visits.
Jack Wilshere had played a key role in Arsenal midfield against Red Star Belgrade in Europa League. The football pundits are now saying, “The sooner Arsenal put Jack Wilshere’s quality, enthusiasm and tenacity into the Premier League the better.”
Arsenal legend Martin Keown told,“They are saying behind the scenes Jack is now playing better than ever before in training.”
Arsene Wenger told about Arsenal’s performance against Red Star Belgrade: “Petr Cech kept us in the game.”
Wenger ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Everton: “Alexis, Koscielny and Ramsey will be alright”
Wenger says Welbeck (groin injury) “will not be back before the international break”. Wenger also confirms that Mustafi, Ospina and Chambers are also ruled out until after next international break
Arsenal are now on 6th position in the League Table in Premier League with 13 points from their 8 encounters so far.
The game against Everton is going to be very important game for them to get back in the top four positions in the League Table.
Ross Barkley, Seamus Coleman, Yannick Bolasie and James McCarthy all remain sidelined.
Everton are in very poor form after winning the first match of the season and earning a draw against Manchester City. They are now on verge of relegation zone. Rooney’s last moment penalty against Brighton had given a win in the Premier League after many matches. They are now at 16th position in the League Table of Premier League. They had lost against the French side Olympique Lyon with a margin of 2-1 on Thursday. Ashley Williams had gone furiously towards the Lyon players.
He said after the match, “It’s football. It is what it is. We want to win and so do they. These things happen.”
Ronald Koeman was really worried about his team’s performance in this season so far. He told, “It is going to be difficult. We wanted to win tonight. I thought we responded well after going down but taken nothing.”
When you are short of confidence you make poor decisions, as Davy Klaassen did when going for a shot instead of putting in Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
“We need to improve on the ball. We made many mistakes. We need to play more direct, instead of trying to play short – we don’t have the confidence (to do it) at the moment.
“We are in a difficult situation now because you only get confidence from winning and we have an important game [with Arsenal] at the weekend. I think it is going to be very difficult for us now in Europe too, you normally win most of your points at home and we only have one from two games.
“Nothing is impossible, but to gain more points — and I think we need six or seven — we need to improve the level and that is more important.”
Key Clash :
The key clash of this match is going to be between Wayne Rooney of Everton and Lacazette of Arsenal. Both are the new summer signings of the respective clubs this season in search of more goals.
Wayne Rooney’s penalty against Brighton last Sunday sees the former England international return to the top of Everton’s scoring charts with three Premier League goals to his name.
Rooney has now scored against 36 of the 39 Premier League clubs that he has gone up against in his career.
On the other hand,Alexandre Lacazette will be keen to prove his class. He was the highest goal scorer for Lyon previous season. He had scored 4 goals in the 8 matches so far in the Premier League.
Possible Starting Eleven :
Everton :
Pickford
Keane
Williams
Jagielka
Baines
Holgate
Gueye
Davies
Calvert-Lewin
Rooney
Niasse
Arsenal :
Cech
Holding
Mertesacker
Koscielny
Bellerin
Xhaka
Ramsey
Monreal
Iwobi
Sanchez
Lacazette
