It was scarcely a month ago that Arsenal’s season hit its first real blip as they went down by a single goal at Goodison Park in Sean Dyche’s first game at the helm.
It was a bitter pill to swallow as, until that point, Everton had endured a pretty awful campaign and found themselves languishing in the Premier League’s bottom three. Their football had been disjointed, sloppy and lacking in any real sense of cohesion, making them easy pickings for most.
The arrival of Dyche in the week before Mikel Arteta’s men made the trip to Merseyside couldn’t have been timed worse from an Arsenal perspective and the impact of the former Burnley manager’s appointment lifted both the players and the fans and inspired a performance that yielded a much-needed win for the Toffees.
Suddenly the hosts were organised, disciplined and willing to put in the sort of work that made life especially difficult for Arsenal’s front line. It resulted in one of the Gunners’ worst performances of the season and brought about a rather sharp downturn in form that saw their commanding lead at the top of the table wither.
There should be plenty of motivation, therefore, for the Gunners to get a measure of revenge when Dyche’s mob travel to the Emirates tomorrow night (Wednesday) for the much-delayed return fixture. That sense of annoyance won’t be enough on its own, though, they must show they have learned some lessons from their first encounter.
While we all like to dismiss Dyche’s brand of football as akin to barbarism, it is clear that he is no fool. He has an admirable record in the Premier League and, before his departure from Turf Moor, massively over-achieved with the resources available to him.
His football will never be sexy, it will never be fashionable, but it is hugely effective and much more nuanced than we might give him credit for. Sure, we know very well what he is likely to do but finding a way to counter it can be fiendishly difficult, as our defeat at Goodison Park showed.
I fully expect Dyche will set his side up at the Emirates much as he did at Goodison. They will be extremely compact, extremely watchful, and fully in command of their defensive third. Ponderous play simply won’t cut it from an Arsenal perspective, they will need to work fast and smart.
Moving this Everton side out of shape will be the only way to create the sort of spaces we like to exploit and that means we can’t afford three, four, five touches of the ball. That means we will need to get the ball to our wide players quickly, we will need to overlap, we will need to offer options ahead of the ball.
Dyche’s side like nothing better than to see the ball in front of them, they can deal with it all day long. That was our mistake in the first fixture and one we can’t afford to make again.
This fixture is, in effect, our game in hand over Manchester City. Victory will put us five points clear heading into the weekend. Anything less puts is within touching distance and we need every bit of buffer we can manage.
There will undoubtedly be slips and dips for Arsenal between now and the end of the season but we have to make our opponents work for it. If we are to give up points, it must be because we have been out-fought, out-played and out-smarted – soft defeats won’t cut it with City in pursuit.
That is why Arsenal must show they have taken some lessons in defeat. Simply trying to do the same things again and hoping home advantage will be enough will end in tears, you can be certain of that. The Gunners must approach this match with intent, with purpose, and with humility because this Dyche side won’t give up points without a fight.
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