ON his sixth anniversary as manager of Arsenal, Mikel Arteta celebrated a victory that saw his team avoid a massive psychological blow.
For the first time since October 4, Arteta’s team lost top spot in the Premier League to Manchester City, but thanks to a penalty from Viktor Gyokeres, it was only for a few hours.
Even so, Arsenal still made hard work of it, just like they did seven days earlier when they needed two own goals to beat Wolves 2-1.
Yet Arteta now starts his seventh year as Arsenal boss at No1 for Christmas.
To slip to second, and just a month after they were seven points clear of City, would have been an utter disaster for a team who have suffered a bit of a wobble, particularly away from home.
So after draws at Sunderland and Chelsea followed by a defeat to Aston Villa, Arsenal really needed this.
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Just like Gyokeres needed only his seventh goal of the season.
Awarded a penalty after Everton’s Jake O’Brien lost the plot and decided to play basketball in the first half by touching the ball with both hands, Gyokeres – who has struggled since his £54.8million move from Sporting Lisbon – made no mistake
Had Pickford got in the way of the shot, it would have probably taken him all the way back to Goodison Park, where Arteta spent six-and-a-half years as a player.
Intriguingly, it was the first time in two years that both Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were on the pitch and neither took the penalty when it was awarded.
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But apart from the goal, Gyokeres still looked untidy and doubts remain over the forward.
He does struggle when teams are playing with a low block, which happens quite a lot against Arsenal, but most of his hold-up play was poor and it was no surprise when he was replaced by Gabriel Jesus halfway through the second half.
Although they were on a half-decent run, David Moyes’ team Everton were desperately poor and they did not manage a shot in the first half, although they showed more guts after half-time.
Arsenal definitely look a lot better at the back when William Saliba is there and the Frenchman, playing his second game after returning from injury, marshalled a defence that gave away little and Everton forward Thierno Barry was left isolated.
Yet in the second half, with the introduction of Beto, Arsenal were given a few nervy moments.
Equally, the Gunners also struggled to get behind the home defence.
When they finally managed it – approaching the midway point of the first half – Martin Zubimendi had a decent chance but he delivered a wild finish.
Gyokeres steered a header wide and then the Swede felt he was shoved in the back from Jake O’Brien.