Arsenal hosted Everton for their 125th anniversary match on Saturday. Given the way that I am haunted by the 6-1 defeat on opening day ’09-‘10 (the sordid ‘Lescott Affair’) and the mood around the camp following the Stoke defeat, I thought today was going to be a Robin van Persie-fueled incineration of Everton’s team at the Emirates. Fortunately, the beat down that I feared did not materialize, but what occurred did nothing to dampen the feelings of foreboding doom and frustration that Everton’s form has inspired this season.

Everton came out looking to play positively and might have had a couple of opportunities to score had our crossing not been sub-par. Baines’ corners were particularly bad today (must have caught whatever set play disease Arteta has) and Bily decided to airmail a cross from a good position over to Gervinho for a quick counter attack. The most worrying thing about the first half was the high line that Everton was playing. Everton is not currently a team that is blessed with pace, especially at the back (except for Distin, who was on the bench, but I’ll come to that), which meant that Gervinho and Walcott were flying past our outside backs into dangerous positions. Fortunately, they kept attempting difficult passes instead of shooting (walking it in?). Arsenal kept up sustained pressure near the end of the half but that came to naught and the teams went back into the changing rooms locked at 0-0 (with Wenger looking more like a brooding hen than usual).

Little changed at the beginning of the second half. Arsenal had most of the game but was unable to capitalize on their dominance because their final pass was lacking and, to be fair, Everton’s back line was having a particularly good game. Then, at the 64’ mark, Moyes brought Sylvain Distin on for Louis Saha. Rather than slotting Distin in between Jagielka and Heitinga (which would have been more amusing), Heitinga was shifted into the midfield (collective gasp, Heitinga and Neville together). Remarkably, Everton actually started taking the game to Arsenal a bit more after ‘the most negative substitution possible in the circumstances short of bringing in a second goalkeeper’. Predictably, an Everton resurgence meant that Arsenal were primed for a goal, which came from a world class finish from Robin van Persie and everyone watching thought, “Game Over.” And, it really was.

Moyes brought in youngster (and hair model) Conor McAleny in for Phil Neville and Magaye Gueye for Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. Both of the substitutes had shots that could have saved a point for Everton but it was not to be and Everton fell to a sixth defeat in eight games, recording a second straight match without a single shot on target.

Talking Points:

Strikers: Louis Saha had today penciled in on his calendar as a ’60 minute jog’. He didn’t chase down balls, he didn’t put pressure on Arsenal defenders, and he passed poorly. It’s always been said of Saha that he does not like to play when he is not feeling fully fit and that is what we were dealing with today. A couple of weeks ago I said that our team needs a striker with more of a work rate and I stand by that. Louis’ recent performances have had me pining for Victor Anichebe’s return (cringe). As for the zero shots on goal in two matches, some of it is down to poor service and some of it has been down to hapless play from our strikers (Tim Cahill included). 

Substitutions: The Moyes-out troupe swelled predictably after the introduction of Distin for Saha. I’m not going to try to defend it because I thought that it was a laughable decision. However, I think Moyes did it for two reasons. First, he was sending a message to Saha that he was doing so little that having another defender on the field would do more good for the team. Second, Everton’s substitutes bench was made up of four children, one bad goalkeeper, and a terrifying-looking Argentinian striker (who isn’t Carlos Tevez). For me, I would have rather our joint top-scorer Vellios come on (I’ve heard he is carrying an injury?) but what’s done is done.

Injuries Ravaging the Smallest Squad in the League? At the beginning of the season, Everton had the smallest senior squad in the Premier League (when it still included Joe Yobo). We currently have twelve senior players who are uninjured. Many people jumped on David Moyes’ back for the decisions today and, sure, he’s been really negative and some of his decisions recently have been poor. However, it must be taken in equal measure that his options have been catastrophically limited this season. You can argue that Ross Barkley and Vellios should play more, but you still have to realize that both of these options are youngsters and, as such, are inconsistent and can be dangerous liabilities for a squad that’s floundering around the bottom of the Premier League. The blame for the deterioration of our squad from the past few seasons should be placed at the doorstep of our fan-chairman Bill Kenwright. His stunning lack of resources has forced the sale of so many of the diamonds that David Moyes plucked from the rough. No manager can compete week in and week out against strong Premier League opponents with the threadbare squad that we currently field.

Man of the Match: Though tempted to say Bill Kenwright, I’m going to go with Tim Howard, he was great today and had no chance against that van Persie strike. Also, his new Landon Donovan-esque beard is practically a new signing, right?

Next up for our beloved Blues is Norwich, who just bested Newcastle 4-2, at Goodison. They are three points above us in the table and have apparently mustered seven more shots on goal than Everton has in the past two matches.

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