84% pass success, 7 key passes: How Everton outplayed Arsenal on their own turf

Everton denied Arsenal a fourth straight Premier League victory as Gerard Deulofeu’s late stunner cancelled out Mesut Ozil’s would-be winner mere minutes before the full-time whistle. The result sees the Gunners stretch their lead at the top of the table to five points ahead of a crucial visit to the Etihad Stadium next weekend, whilst the Toffees hold their place amongst the European spots, remaining in fifth place.

Key Stats:

Arsenal surprisingly came out on the short end of the possession battle at their home ground with 47% on the day, as Everton monopolised the ball in the first half and saw plenty of it in the waning minutes as well.

Roberto Martinez’s men also outperformed the Gunners in distribution, completing 84% of 501 passes attempted whilst the hosts connected on 79% of a lesser 392 balls played, with the Toffees resultantly serving up seven key passes to their more fancied opponents’ six.

Defensively, Arsene Wenger’s charges made use of 24 interceptions to break up play, opting to primarily clog passing lanes as they succeeded in only 70% of their tackles, Everton demonstrating more efficiency in this latter area by winning the ball one-on-one at a rate of 93% to pair with 18 interceptions of their own.

Man of the Match

Mesut Ozil ran out with Man of the Match honours on the back of a Performance Score of 73, a full 21 points higher than the closest participating individual in Laurent Koscielny.

As he has so often in his short Arsenal career, the German playmaker caused trouble with his intelligent movement off the ball to trouble the opposing defence, his Heat Map showing a remarkable range of the pitch covered as he denied Everton a reference point at the back.

Never hesitating to take his man on, despite often facing multiple markers, the former Real Madrid man completed three take ons and won as many fouls on the day.

It was his late goal at the back post that nearly claimed all three points for Arsenal, whilst his service from wide areas had been excellent through as he picked out a team-mate with four of six crosses and saw out the contest with an 87% pass completion rate.

Performance Score

The sides remained almost perfectly even in terms of Performance Score though the opening overtures of the match, but Everton slowly began to pull as the first half wore on as they bossed proceedings, holding a 130-70 advantage at the half-hour mark.

Arsenal grew into the game and pulled to within 12 by the break, coming out of the dressing rooms the more motivated of the two clubs soon leaping ahead of the visitors as a result.

Still the contest remained relatively even, but the Gunners applied increasing pressure as time became more of the essence, finally breaking through via Ozil on 80 minutes to soar to a commanding 306-91 lead.

Yet Everton would strike back soon enough through Deulofeu to make a sizeable recovery, Arsenal coming out on top in the Performance Score sweepstakes 261-126 largely due to the excellence of Ozil and Koscielny.

Key Observations

Arsenal were shockingly repressed in the first half as Martinez effectively deployed his men with an aggressive disposition in a hostile environment, the Toffees seeing 58% of the possession through the opening 45 minutes as they completed 87% of their passes.

The Spaniard’s attacking tactics proved doubly successful as they served to repress the Gunners offensively in addition to creating opportunities for Everton, with the league leaders not able to muster a shot until the 41st minute as Aaron Ramsey and company looked put off by an audacious adversary.

Wenger’s men remained stout at the back however, not allowing chances of the utmost quality to be manufactured and stifling Romelu Lukaku, who was never allowed to fully express himself and finished the match with a Performance Score of -16.

A triple switch on 67 minutes from the Frenchman looked to provide Arsenal with a fresh impetus and it paid off as Theo Walcott knocked down a cross in the penalty area for Ozil to finish amidst pandemonium, with Deulofeu’s almost immediate reply coming in the form of a superb individual effort that caught out Wojciech Szczesny.

A 1-1 draw is fair result, Everton won the territorial battle and persisted against a resolved Arsenal defence, whilst the Gunners’ overall quality always remained a threat and Ozil’s eminence nearly proved decisive on the afternoon.