Arsenal visits Goodison Park tonight for the mid-week fixture of the Premier League as they take on Everton. The Gunners are on a brilliant run and will look to continue it. Arsene Wenger’s team are placed 2nd in the league table with 34 points, three behind leaders Chelsea. Arsenal came back from a goal down to win 3-1 against Stoke City over the weekend and they will look to reduce the deficit on Tuesday night at Merseyside.
Everton, meanwhile, have been sheer inconsistent this season. They started brightly but their form faltered in the recent games. They languish at the ninth position in the Premier League table with 20 points after failing to register a single win in their last four games. Everton lost 2-3 at Watford on Saturday.
Team News:
Everton have a few injury concerns going into the December mid-week fixture. Yannick Bolasie is set to miss the rest of the season with a ligament tear during the match against Manchester United. Matthew Pennington and Muhamed Besic are also ruled off due to hamstring and knee injuries respectively.
Arsenal have several players who are yet to recover from serious injuries. Mathieu Debuchy injured his hamstring during the Bournemouth game and has been declared unfit for the visit to Goodison Park. Per Mertesacker is set to miss the match with a knee injury while Shkodran Mustafi is doubtful for the game. Santi Cazorla is yet to recover from his Achilles problem.
Predicted Line-Up:
Everton:
Stekelenburg
Coleman; Funes Mori; Williams; Baines
Gueye; Barry
Deulofeu; Barkley; Mirallas
Lukaku
Arsenal
Cech
Bellerin; Gabriel; Koscielny; Monreal
Xhaka; Coquelin
Walcott; Ozil; Iwobi
Sanchez
Stats (from FourFourTwo):
- Everton’s only win in their last 18 league games against Arsenal was their 3-0 victory in April 2014 (D6 L11).
- Arsenal have won more Premier League games against Everton (29) than they have against any other side.
- In fact, Everton have lost 93 times to Arsenal in the league, the most defeats by one club to another in English league history.
- A win for the Gunners at Goodison Park would make it their 12th in the Premier League there – only at Villa Park (12) have they obtained as many away wins at a single ground.
- Everton have conceded exactly two goals in each of their last four league games against Arsenal.
- Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last six games against Everton in all competitions.
- The Gunners haven’t lost on a Tuesday in the Premier League since February 2006 v Liverpool (W10 D7).
- Romelu Lukaku has scored (9) or assisted (3) 12 of Everton’s last 15 Premier League goals.
- Since the start of 2013-14, Lukaku has scored 52 of Everton’s 187 Premier League goals (28%) and no other player has more than 20 goals for the club in this period.
- Alexis Sanchez has had a hand in 26 goals in his last 26 Premier League appearances
Prediction:
Arsenal have been in excellent form of recent and have lost just one match so far in the season. After Saturday’s victory over Stoke, they will be brimming with confidence. However, they do miss key players in defence. Everton are hugely dependent on their main man Romelu Lukaku who scored both goals in the 2-3 loss to Watford.
The match will most likely be thrilling with neither sides sitting back to defend. However, given the quality of the Arsenal frontline and Everton’s poor run of form, it seems that the Gunners are the slight favourites in the fixture.
Final Predicted Score: Everton 1-3 Arsenal