Everton 1 Arsenal 0: Toffees blank Gunners for their third straight win

A third London team in a row played, a third win for Everton and another clean sheet too as the Blues beat Arsenal1-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday.

This was a win with a deceptive score line. In truth only the most myopic Arsenal fan wouldn’t admit Everton should have won by three of four.

In some ways this was the most impressive of the three Premier League wins that the Toffees have now put together.

Granted there were a string of chances missed, something the Blues must address of course. But Everton were very dominant against a team on a great run of form and chasing Champions League football next season. And the Toffees managed to record another clean sheet too.

The win over Chelsea that started this mini-run was perhaps a little fortuitous given their first half dominance and last weekend’s victory at the London Stadium came against a West Ham United team who were woeful.

Arsenal in contrast have traditionally been a thorn in the Blues side and they would certainly have travelled up to the northwest expecting to get a result.

There was also some pressure building on the home side to maintain their recent run of results and make it three wins in a row at a still nervous but increasingly more expectant Goodison Park.

And finally Everton had to make a last-minute change at the back as Michael Keane withdrew just minutes before kick-off to be replaced by Phil Jagielka.

So with that emergency reshuffle in defence, Arsenal might have fancied their chances even more. Although strangely the Gunners didn’t start with leading scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang in their team.

But the Blues were superb from the kick-off reproducing the excellent from they had shown against West Ham. They quickly gained the better of their opponents with Jagielka fittingly scoring early on what turned out to be the only goal of the game.

The midfield duo of Andre Gomes and Idrissa Gueye were outstanding again controlling the middle of the park.

If they keep up this form it is imperative both are still at Goodison when the 2019-20 season kicks off in August. Although Gana wanted a move in January and may well push to go again in the summer.

However despite this dominance Everton couldn’t add further goals with several players spurning a succession of great chances.

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This is an issue that the Blues must sort out before the beginning of next season. It will obviously mean more focus on whether Everton can and do sign another striker in the summer.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin had another fine match against Arsenal. He was hard-working and provided a fine focal point, but he didn’t score.

He seems to be developing into a good young centre-forward and his pace, strong running and ability to hold the ball up make him an increasingly important player in Everton’s attack.

But his finishing is still inconsistent and while he may well develop this part of his game, I feel Everton do still need to sign a proven finisher if they can.