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Everton away, is always a tricky fixture to navigate… and this game will be no different, especially as this is our first time playing at The Toffees’ new home… the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

The Toffees have a decent home record, so no doubt, they’ll make it sticky for us.

We’ll need to play exceptionally well, to get a result here. Playing much better than we did against Wolves, is a minimum requirement.

This is also a game we didn’t manage to win last season. We dropped 2 precious points, drawing 1-1, in a game that we should’ve won.

So far this season, we’ve managed to exact our revenge, on all the teams we slipped up against last season. Hopefully, this trend continues.

The starting lineup for The Arsenal, was David Raya in goal, Calafiori at left-back, after returning from suspension. Hincapie, and Saliba, central… and Timber at right-back.

In the midfield, it was Rice, Zubimendi, and Odegaard… and the front three was Trossard on the left, Gyokeres through the middle, and Saka on the right.

We started the game nervously, which is understandable, as our away form has been indifferent, so far this season. In addition to that, the Arsenal players would’ve been aware that Mancheatster City, won earlier in the day, and went top of the table. This had a psychological impact, and most certainly added more pressure to the game.

This is something that you have to deal with, when you’re challenging for a Premier League title, and I have no doubt, that this group of Arsenal players, have the mental toughness to deal with this.

After we shed, and discarded our nervousness, like a snake sheds it’s skin… we controlled the game. We passed with confidence, our ball retention was excellent, and our professionalism was evident.

The sticky Toffee’s sat back, and refused to be broken down… but Arsenal, refusing to get toothache… forced a corner in the 27^th minute, which was taken by Declan Rice.

Rice put such a great ball in, that the Everton defender, Jake O’Brien… jumped high into the air, and tried his best to catch the ball, and take it home. If only someone had informed him that he’s NOT a goalkeeper, and that you only get to keep the match ball, if you score a hat-trick.

O’Brien played Volleyball, Pat-a-cake, and double high-fived the football. (HAHAHAHA!!)

It was a blatant handball, and after a VAR check, Arsenal were awarded a penalty.

Bukayo Saka, and Martin Odegaard, decided between themselves, that Viktor Gyokeres should take the resulting penalty. An excellent decision, as if scored… it’ll give Gyokeres confidence, going into the next games.

Up stepped Viktor Gyokeres, and he thundered the ball home! The finish was emphatic, it was confident, it was vicious… it was needed. I could see the frustration leaving Gyokeres’ body.

1-0 to The Arsenal!!

We continued to control the game, but we couldn’t get the second goal. It was 1-0 at the break, and I was happy with our first half performance. We weren’t at our sparkling best, by any stretch of the imagination… but we looked solid at the back again, we were assured in our play again, and we responded in the right way, to our poor performance against Wolves.

The second half started more evenly… and I’m sure that’s due to the Everton manager David Moyes, demanding more from his players. They got in a few tackles, got the home crowd up, and put us under pressure. Thankfully though, we were faultless at the back, and dealt with Everton’s revival, in a composed, and efficient way.

We should’ve increased our lead, after a wonderful passing move, between Odegaard, Timber, and Rice. Trossard had the shot at the end of the move, but he unfortunately hit the post.

As we couldn’t kill the game off, and had no wins in 3 games, away from home… nervousness started to taunt me. I looked the other way, and pretended not to feel it.

The Arsenal continued to control the game, and we limited Everton to only 1 shot on target.

In the 65^th minute, Gabriel Jesus came on for Viktor Gyokeres. The change made sense, as Gyokeres is not long back from injury, and we have A LOT of other games coming up, over the Christmas period… and of course, Gabriel Jesus needs more minutes, and has been looking sharp in recent games.

Even though Jesus offered a different dimension to our front line, the second goal still escaped us, like an elusive fugitive.

Everton were kept at bay, due to our defensive solidity, but we didn’t do enough going forward, to finish Everton off. Like eating when you’re not hungry, we couldn’t finish our dinner.

In the 80^th minute, Martinelli was introduced for Trossard, and in the 88^th minute, Odegaard made way for Merino.

The match finished 1-0 to The Arsenal, and it felt like a HUUUUUUUGE win, when you factor in my aforementioned points.

We’re now back to the top of the league, after being on the right side of a difficult away fixture, we responded to Mancheatster City’s win, before we kicked-off… and we kept a clean sheet.

We’ll be top at Christmas, and can now look ahead to our Carabao Cup game, against Crystal Palace.

There’s a section of Arsenal fans, that are moaning, whinging, complaining, and remonstrating, about the performance, even after putting the result into context.

Apparently, the tempo’s too slow, we’re not good enough to win the league, we lack the mentality to see it through…and blah, blaaaah, blardy-blah. Jibba-jabber…yada-yada.

Talk to me people… Do YOU think the tempo in our play, is too slow?

Do you think that we lack the required mentality, to win this league?

I know I do….but do YOU, still have confidence in Viktor Gyokeres?

When everyone’s fit, who do you think should start up front for us?

Is being top at Christmas again, a blessing… because we have experience of being there before… or is it a hindrance, because the last 2 times we were top at Christmas, we haven’t gone on to win the league? Do you think it’ll have a positive, or negative impact, on the players?

Personally, I think there’s NEVER a wrong way, or a wrong time, to be top of the league.

Aaaaaaanywhooooo… The Arsenal go marching on! Merry Christmas, to all those who celebrate! COYG!!!