Everton 2-1 Arsenal: 3 Takeaways from the win against Arteta’s men

Have the roles reversed?

Now people may be confused about this, what I mean is at the start of the season, Everton were known for a fiery attack that could score plenty of goals, but the more and more the season has gone on it seems like the roles have reversed. Recently, the Toffees have shown great defensive shape and keep great attacking units from scoring, but the main source of goals have been from set-pieces and crossing situations.

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s arguably better for Everton fans because it’s picking up points against better opposition. Yeah, it may be fun to put five past West Brom and four past Brighton put keeping clean sheets against Chelsea and Leicester along with beating the current holders of the FA Cup will help much more at the end of the season than those results will.

If Everton can beat Manchester United in the cup, then the Toffees have beat four teams that they’re competing for a top-six finish with, and even though it is only the cup, it’s still a huge confidence booster if Everton can take a big win against a European rival.

This could all change when James Rodriguez returns, the Toffees could try to keep the ball and play through the Colombian, but if James is willing to play this type of football, then it could be extremely useful with his creative abilities. It would make them so much more dangerous on the counter-attack and not many teams would be able to handle it.