Wednesday is a potential landmark day for Premier League leaders Arsenal who welcome relegation-threatened Everton to the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta’s side missed out on a huge opportunity to make history earlier this month when the Toffees pulled off a 1-0 home win on Sean Dyche’s touchline debut.
But after a 1-0 victory at Leicester City last weekend handed them successive league triumphs, the Gunners will be confident about making amends on Wednesday.
Having racked up 99 wins in 203 league matches against Everton, Arsenal could become the first club in English league football to hit a 100-win milestone against specific opposition.
Achieving that feat would see the London outfit re-establish a five-point cushion at the summit after an underwhelming three-game league form in early February (D1, L2) reignited Manchester City’s title defence.
The stakes are equally high for visiting Everton, albeit for different reasons, as a 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa demoted them back to the relegation zone.
New boss Dyche has experienced a rollercoaster first month in charge of the Toffees, managing two wins and as many losses in his opening four Premier League fixtures at the helm.
Despite amassing just one victory fewer than they did in the first 20 league rounds under Dyche’s predecessor Frank Lampard, it may prove insufficient to keep the Merseyside strugglers in the top flight.
Match Preview
Arsenal
Arsenal have consolidated their pursuit of a first Premier League title in almost two decades with back-to-back wins over Leicester and Villa despite failing to take a first-half lead on both occasions (D1, L1).
However, playing at the Emirates has recently been the Gunners’ soft spot, as they’ve only won once in their last four league games here (D2, L1) after winning ten in a row beforehand.
While scoring has never been Arsenal’s problem on home turf, a record of two clean sheets in their last 16 top-flight outings in north London raises questions about their defensive resilience.
Everton
Opening the scoring has been a crucial catalyst in Everton’s four Premier League matches under Dyche, as each has seen the team to break the deadlock and eventually win ‘to nil.’
That run includes a 2-0 defeat to arch-rivals Liverpool at Anfield, which forms part of the Toffees’ abysmal 13-game Premier League record on hostile turf (W1, D5, L7).
It’s no wonder the odds are firmly stacked against Dyche’s charges here, considering their last away win over a side starting the round at the top of the table dates back to 1986 (D5, L19 since).
Arsenal vs Everton Potential Line-ups
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey; Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli; Leandro Trossard.
Everton (4-3-3): Jordan Pickford; Seamus Coleman, James Tarkowski, Conor Coady, Vitaliy Mykolenko; Abdoulaye Doucoure, Idrissa Gueye, Amadou Onana; Alex Iwobi, Demarai Gray, Dwight McNeil.
How to Watch?
Arsenal vs Everton, alongside all other fixtures in England’s top flight, is available to watch online via live Premier League streams.
Arsenal vs Everton Prediction
Arsenal will be out to avenge a dreadful run of four defeats from their last five meetings with Everton in the Premier League and prove a recent form wobble belongs to the past.
We back them to do just that, though it’s hard to expect them to emulate a 5-1 thumping from this corresponding fixture in 2021/22.
Arsenal 2-0 Everton
