Game is over and the final score is Everton 1-0 Arsenal. Here is the match report.
2022/2023 Premier League
1-0
Match Report
Sean Dyche got off to a winning start as Everton manager as two of his former players combined for the winning goal against Premier League leaders Arsenal.
James Tarkowski headed in a corner from fellow Burnley old boy Dwight McNeil after an hour to lift the roof off Goodison and their team out of the relegation zone.
After a season of doom and gloom, Everton made the most of their new manager bounce as Arsenal were knocked out of their stride.
Their lead at the top will be cut to two points on Sunday with a Manchester City win and Dyche would love the way his players backed each other up after Neal Maupay went down in injury-time.
Dyche’s first line-up made a statement with midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure recalled for his first start since August having trained on his own following a fall-out with previous manager, Frank Lampard.
Though there had been anti-board protests outside Goodison and an aeroplane carrying the banner “League’s worst-run club”, Evertonians got fully behind their team once the opening opening whistle blew.
Dyche received a rousing ovation when he walked to the dug-out and the players responded with Amadou Onana and Doucoure asked to support Dominic Calvert-Lewin in a 4-1-4-1.
Early challenges by Vitali Mykolenko and Dominic Calvert-Lewin set the tone for Everton’s workrate and the crowd responded by turning up the volume.
Arsenal dominated possession but did little with it. In contrast, Everton always carried a threat.
They forced a succession of corners, made Aaron Ramsdale save from Calvert-Lewin and watched in agony as Onana fired across the penalty area without a team-mate getting a touch.
Doucoure also misplaced a header when Dwight McNeil’s cross found him in unexpected space.
As Dyche stood suited and booted by the touchline barking out orders, his opposite number Mikel Arteta – once a playing favourite at Goodison Park – gestured for his players to be more proactive but to little effect.
In first-half injury-time, Everton produced their best football with skipper Seamus Coleman turning back the clock by beating Martinelli and crossing for Calvert-Lewin twisting header to drift narrowly wide.
They maintained the impetus after the interval with Doucoure’s lay-off to Gueye ending with a shot from the edge of the box parried away by a flying Ramsdale.
Everton chairman Bill Kenwright and the directors were absent for the second consecutive home game fearing their presence would be an unwelcome distraction.
They would love to have seen Everton take the lead after 60 minutes just seconds after Arteta had made changes by sending on January signings Leandro Trossard and Jorginho, the latter for his Gunners debut.
Before the new arrivals could acclimatise, Everton scored. It was a trademark Dyche goal, a corner into the mixer from McNeil and Tarkowski having little difficulty to beat his marker Odegaard and head in from close range.
The celebrations were wild with Tarkowski sprinting towards the fans with a unrecognisable burst of pace.
It was his first Everton goal and the first he’d scored since netting for Burnley against Brighton in 2021 – when Dyche was his manager at Turf Moor.
Arsenal pressed for an equaliser but were uncharacteristically off-colour. Both Odegaard and Bukayo Saka got under the ball when well-placed and fired over.
Trossard did shoot on target but Jordan Pickford saved. There was handbags injury-time as Maupay delayed play and Arsenal remonstrated with him, only to be surrounded themselves by blue shirts.
After a run of four consecutive home defeats, Everton won.
Having been beaten only once in the league all season, Arsenal lost. New manager bounce is quite a thing.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
14' Saka gets poked in the eye by Gana
22' CHANCE! Calvert-Lewin's header over the bar
30' MISS! Nketiah's shot wide out
33' CLOSE! Calvert-Lewin misses a good chance
39' Saka's shot cleared by Coady in front of the goal
48' CLOSE! Calvert-Lewin's header inches wide
57' Jorginho makes Arsenal debut
60' GOAL! Everton 1-0 Arsenal (Tarkowski)
69' Yellow Card! Amadou Onana booked
78' CHANCE! Trossard's long shot denied by Pickford
86' Yellow Card! Pickford booked
92' CHANCE! Zinchenko's long shot over the bar
Line-ups
Everton XI: Coleman, Gueye, Pickford, Doucoure, Tarkowski, Coady, Iwobi, Calvert-Lewin, Vitaliy Mykolenko, McNeil, Amadou Onana
Subs: Asmir Begovic, Godfrey, Maupay, Mina, Gray, Tom Davies, Holgate, Vinagre, Ellis Simms
Arsenal XI: Xhaka, Partey, Zinchenko, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel, Ramsdale, Ben White, Nketiah, Martinelli, William Saliba, Saka
Subs: Trossard, Jorginho, Tierney, Holding, Matt Turner, Tomiyasu, Jakub Kiwior, Fábio Vieira, Amario Cozier-Duberry