Three weeks ago Arsenal stumbled in the race for the Premier League title. Everton stunned Arsenal by defeating them 1-0. The Toffees were able to feel a sense of security after getting out of the relegation zone, at the expense of Arsenal. Three weeks later Everton and Arsenal are stuck in a similar situation. Any outcome of this game will decide the fate of many teams in the upcoming weeks. Now both of these teams will face each other once again on March 2.
If Arsenal ends up losing to Everton again then Manchester City will be just two points behind the top spot. The Blues will have a chance to reclaim the title of league leaders once again on March 4, for at least a few hours. Arsenal will play against Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium later that evening. Also, they will become the first team in the history of the Premier League to register 100 wins against a single team. If Arsenal ends up with a draw then they will have a three-point advantage over the defending champions. On the other hand, if Arsenal ends up taking their revenge against Everton then they will restore their five-point advantage against the League Leaders.
The Gunners will try to defeat the Merseyside team at any cost if Arsenal manages to edge past Everton. Their upcoming fixtures are against teams which are currently fighting the battle of the relegation zone. In the last 6 encounters, Everton has defeated Arsenal four times. In terms of past records, Everton will surely back themselves to pull off another spectacle for their fans.
Mikel Arteta's focus will be to bring his best team out on the pitch. But after playing a football game every three or four-day interval, player fitness and giving opportunities to every player becomes a big issue for the managers.
While speaking in the pre-match conference Mikel Arteta addressed the challenges that his team is facing as of now. "I don't know, I'm not thinking about it, I'm thinking about what's best for the team and obviously and the players with the right to play minutes which they all deserve and we're going to try to do that in the next couple of games. The fact we have options right now, that we have players coming back from injury is going to be crucial because players cannot maintain the same level for 10 months, it is just impossible. Most teams have stronger home forms for all kinds of scientific reasons but it's about the consistency of performances home and away. We want our players to have a strong jaw and an edge to their play away from home."
While Arteta deals with his squad selection issues, Sean Dyche has disclosed some information about his secret weapon against Arsenal.
In the pre-match conference he said that"But as part of your mentality, you want to change that. You go there almost expecting nothing - that in itself is a nice weapon to have. If everyone expects that you are not going to get anything...let's go and get something. All these mind dynamics of different variances in football, you can look at each in different ways. For me, the glass is always half full.
Everton will more or less depend on counter-attacking football with Demari Gray, Neal Maupay and Abdoulaye Doucoure playing the central role in the attacking dimension. On the other hand, Arsenal will rely on Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard for the same purpose. In the end, this fixture could either be determined by Arsenal's brilliant attacking and defensive quality or by their mistakes on which Everton capitalises and produces yet another upset.
( With inputs from ANI )
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