Everton 0-0 Arsenal: 3 reasons why the Gunners failed to win | Premier League 2019-20

Arsenal faced Everton in today’s early Premier League game at Goodison Park, with interim boss Freddie Ljungberg in charge for the final time – Mikel Arteta will take over from next week – and to be quite frank, the game was one of the worst of the last decade, let alone this season.

The two sides drew 0-0, and with both Arteta and Everton’s new boss Carlo Ancelotti watching from the stands, the match proved to be incredibly difficult to digest.

Neither team seemed to have any idea of how to break the other down, and in the end, neither new manager can be looking forward to their new job.

Straight to work. 💪@m8arteta heads down to our dressing room at full-time #EVEARS pic.twitter.com/Pw8VUhUp2I

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 21, 2019

Here are 3 reasons why Arsenal drew with Everton.

#1 Arsenal’s system didn’t work fluently

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struggled for chances today

Freddie Ljungberg set Arsenal up today in a 4-2-3-1 system, with Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira screening the defence and young guns Reiss Nelson, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe attempting to provide lone striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with chances.

Unfortunately, this system completely backfired as the Gunners created practically no chances; Aubameyang had just 3 shots, 2 of which were saved by Jordan Pickford, and they were the only shots on target Arsenal had in the entire game. The side also made just 5 key passes – and of the attacking trio, only Nelson was responsible for one of them.

Arsenal’s youngsters clearly have a lot of talent – with Bukayo Saka, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock also appearing today, this was one of the youngest Gunners sides fielded in some time – but they’ve also got a lot to learn and Arteta would perhaps be advised to at least attempt to make the most of his more experienced players like Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe – who were both on the bench today.

#2 Everton didn’t really test Arsenal’s defence

Everton's forwards - including Cenk Tosun - failed to register a single shot on target

Everton have struggled for goals throughout this season, and today’s match was no exception; they had 9 attempts on goal but failed to hit the target once, with Richarlison, Tom Davies, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin being equally wasteful with the few chances they had.

Substitute Cenk Tosun meanwhile was so poor that he was then taken off himself in favour of Moise Kean in the second half.

Interim manager Duncan Ferguson has done well to guide Everton to a short unbeaten run in the Premier League, but if new boss Carlo Ancelotti really wants them to climb up the table then he’ll need to get his misfiring front line to start scoring goals quickly.

Improving the amount of true chances created would help, for starters; the Toffees put together just 5 key passes today and had an overall pass success rate of 79%, hardly an impressive showing considering the inexperience of their opponents and their home advantage.

Essentially, a better side could've capitalised on Arsenal's poor showing today, but somehow Everton were arguably even worse.

#3 Arsenal have commitment issues

Mikel Arteta quickly needs to work out which senior players he can rely on

The transfer rumours around Arsenal this week were worrying, in that they largely centred on many of the club’s senior players wanting to leave the Emirates, rather than a list of new talent that Mikel Arteta could bring in. The Gunners have a lot of talented youngsters, but judging on today’s game, Arteta will still require some of his senior players – but who can he rely on?

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – so long the player who Arsenal have relied on for goals – was largely anonymous today, while Freddie Ljungberg stated that he wouldn’t have selected Mesut Ozil even if he hadn’t been injured due to his petulance after being substituted in the Gunners’ loss to Manchester City.

Granit Xhaka had a true stinker, failing to complete any tackles or interceptions despite being deployed as a holding midfielder; David Luiz committed more fouls than any other player involved in the game, and Alexandre Lacazette, who came on with 12 minutes remaining, failed to have a single shot.

If Arteta doesn’t want a repeat of this match, then he needs to find out quickly which senior players he can rely on, and ditch the rest as soon as possible. Perhaps then he’ll be able to find a balance between youth and experience in his squad.