The home team had just 30% possession, but this was no smash-and-grab. We got outplayed, outfought, and outcoached. Arsenal's idea seemed to be to get the ball out wide to Saka and Martinelli and let them make something happen. What happened was we created almost nothing. Everton, on the other hand, defended in energetic, organized fashion, and pressed high when the opportunity arose. They slung in dangerous crosses that we did not deal with very well. They played for corners, and on one of them, Tarkowski bullied Odegaard for a simple headed goal. I haven't looked at the xG stats, but my guess is that Everton's was over 2 and ours was about 0.4. The Toffees are playing way better under Dyche than they were under Lampard, and I wish the league had scheduled this one for January.
What a deflating loss, right after the Citizens bounced us out of the FA Cup too. The new boys Trossard and Jorginho came on the minute before the goal and did not do much afterwards. I didn't notice that the Gunners were playing poorly; they pinged the ball around pretty well and won their share of 50-50 duels. But the Toffees had a better plan and they executed it pretty well. They really should have had a goal in the first half, maybe two. We looked weak on a number of occasions. Well, we will have to shake this one off, learn a few things, and get back to winning ways before we're hauled back amongst the pack. There's no more room for error.
Here's the xG stats. Everton's was 1.58, ours was 0.81. They had four "big chances" and we had none. We had more shots inside the box, but they were all poor quality. They edged us in shots on goal. The Toffees fouled a lot and picked up some yellows, but that was in their plan.
Man U won, Newcastle drew, so both closed the gap some.
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