Arsenal faced Everton in their most recent match in the English Premier League. The Gunners were hoping to seal a victory over a struggling team. Everton fired manager Frank Lampard and replaced him with former Burnley manager Sean Dyche. A victory over Everton would have increased their lead to eight points at the top of the table. However, things didn’t go the way Mikel Arteta expected. The Toffees handed Arsenal their second defeat of the season and ended their 14-match unbeaten streak. Sean Dyche has the experience of battling relegation. He played a tremendous role in keeping Burnley going despite a very low budget. We now look at some of the stats from the match that show how Arsenal failed to create an impact in such a crucial game for both sides.
A change in team formation
Frank Lampard experimented a lot while selecting his team. He played three at the back, four at the back, and also tried the five-at-the-back formation. Sean Dyche, in his first match, started the team in a 4-5-1 formation and stuck with the same formation till the end of the match. The second viz above shows the average position of the players. His team maintained the 4-5-1 formation, and the full-backs played a defensive line as well. Idrissa Gueye played as a shield in front of the back line. His average position in the match was very deep. James Tarkowski scored the only goal of the match, and he was pushing up on the pitch. This change in formation and maintaining the same formation throughout the 90 minutes had a positive impact on the team.
Defensive toughness
Sean Dyche’s Burnley was known for their sturdy defence. His teams have been solid at the back and have caused upsets against some of the big teams. Everton also showed the same toughness in this match, and Jordan Pickford kept his fourth clean sheet of the season.
Everton had to perform a lot of defensive actions to secure a win. They contested 79 defensive duels and 37 aerial duels. The team won 54.45% of their defensive duels and 56.76% of their aerial duels. One of the aerial duels even resulted in a goal. The above viz shows the defensive territory in the match. The Toffees made 52 interceptions and gave away 13 fouls. These fouls were mostly tactical and occurred inside the opponent’s half. There was a lot of discipline shown by the team in the defensive half.
Arsenal managed to hit the target four times in the match. Jordan Pickford came to the rescue for his side. Along with this, the defenders also made four crucial blocks, with almost every block coming inside the opposition’s penalty box. The defenders were putting their bodies on the line, and that halted Arsenal’s progress. The defence showed massive improvement against the English Premier League leaders.
Attacking progress
Everton scored the only goal of the match from a corner. Former Burnley men Dwight McNeil and James Tarkowski combined for this goal. The Toffees created 26 positional attacks and two counterattacks in the match. They attempted 12 shots, but only two were on target. They tried to feed in a few crosses in this match. Everton players attempted 17 crosses, and five were delivered. There was a high success rate on the left side. Everton’s players stretched the field of play and delivered most of their crosses on the edge of the six-yard box. They will look to take the same approach against the sides that struggle in the air.
Betting Analysis
Arsenal were the odds-on favourite to win this game. Everton were the least favourite to take any points from this match. They caused an upset and won three points in this game. As for the over/under lines, the underlines thrived as only one goal was scored.
Everton are the second team to defeat Arsenal in the English Premier League 2022–23 campaign. They stopped the league leaders from taking three points away from Goodison Park. They will now hope to carry the momentum into the next phase and climb above the relegation zone. They face Liverpool next in the Merseyside Derby at Anfield.
Visuals via Wyscout and the TFA data viz engine