Everton vs. Arsenal

1-1, Premier League, Goodison Park, 2012-11-28
Walcott 1

We may not have lost too many games so far this season, but we have drawn way too many instead.

The first half was quite eventful, though the only good chance we had we actually scored from and that was in the very first minute! Theo Walcott started the move as he played the ball to Ramsey, who passed it back to the young Englishman at once and Theo curbed the ball gracefully past the Everton 'keeper Howard and into the back of the net. Just four minutes into the game Koscielny picked up an injury and Gibbs made his comeback from the bench! Unfortunately for us we did not manage to hold onto the lead and Fellaini equalized for Everton after about half an hour with a rather long-distance shot.

Everton began the second half as the better team and Szczesny had to make some amazing saves. Slowly we began to get back in the game and build up some urgency and pressure. When there was approximately twenty minutes to go Giroud had a header that went just wide of the goal and just two minutes later Ramsey's shot almost found the back of the net, but Howard managed to get a hand in the way just in time. Then, with fifteen minutes to go, Cazorla had a decent shot that was parried by Howard and with just ten minutes left we had a brilliant chance to score. Unfortunately Giroud's cross was just to high for Gervinho to reach. In the last of the added minutes Everton came really close with two good chances, but we held onto the point.

Even though playing Everton at Goodison Park is always quite a challenge and you should usually be pleased with a draw, I cannot help but feel huge disappointment. As mentioned above, we have drawn way too many games this season and it will not do if we are to win anything. On a positive note we did play significantly better in this game than against Aston Villa last weekend, somehow we seemed to find some more energy for this game, which might be down to the fact that Walcott came in to inject some pace into our game. Next game for us is Swansea this weekend, let's just hope that we can get back to winning!

Injury Update:
- Gibbs and Rosicky were both back on the bench for this game.
- No news as to how serious Koscielny's injury is yet.