Arsenal are condemned to a second-placed Premier League finish despite a 2-1 win over Everton at the Emirates.
A monumental Arsenal effort against Everton was in vain as the Gunners were condemned to another Premier League runners-up finish despite a 2-1 win over the Toffees at the Emirates.
Needing all three points and a Manchester City slip-up to dramatically pip Pep Guardiola‘s men to the post, the Gunners were far from their free-flowing best early on and conceded first to Idrissa Gueye‘s deflected free kick.
A Takehiro Tomiyasu strike and late Kai Havertz winner turned the tide and saw Mikel Arteta‘s men do their job, but with Man City doing the business against West Ham United, the Gunners were left crestfallen again.
Perhaps the worst news that Gooners could have received before kickoff, a minor muscular injury meant that there was no Bukayo Saka in the hosts’ squad, allowing Gabriel Martinelli to start on the right wing.
Even without their top goalscorer, Arsenal took the game by the scruff of the neck immediately, but Tomiyasu spurned a brilliant chance for 1-0 in the sixth minute, heading wide from Declan Rice‘s delicate ball to the back post.
Rice deflection makes Arsenal climb uphill
© Reuters
Not long after, the Emirates atmosphere very quickly turned flat – not because of Tomiyasu’s miss, but news filtered through that Man City had taken the lead against West Ham United just two minutes in.
Jordan Pickford was aiding the Citizens’ efforts too, firstly getting down low to save Rice’s scuffed 12th-minute shot before reacting quickly to deny Martinelli – who had breezed past Jarrad Branthwaite – four minutes later.
As City doubled their lead, Arsenal could not wear down a compact Everton side, who had the game’s best two chances through Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the 31st minute – the Englishman hit the base of David Raya‘s near-post before his follow-up rippled the side netting.
However, the back of the Spaniard’s net would unexpectedly ripple in the 40th minute, as a Gueye free kick took a wicked deflection off the head of Rice and flew into the far corner past a flat-footed Raya.
The £105m man’s blushes were spared just three minutes later, though, as Martin Odegaard got to the byline on the right and fizzed a ball into a crowded penalty box, which missed everyone but fell at the feet of an arriving Tomiyasu, whose crisp first-time strike flew into the bottom corner.
Tomiyasu’s equaliser preceded West Ham pulling a goal back at the Etihad, leading to a renewed sense of optimism around a rejuvenated Emirates, where the half-time whistle brought an end to the injury-time chaos.
Controversial Havertz winner in vain
The contrast of emotions between champions Man City and second-placed Arsenal after the final whistle 🥇🥈
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Speaking of injuries, a coming together between Abdoulaye Doucoure and Gabriel Magalhaes saw the Arsenal man come off worse – he was visibly struggling with a shoulder issue and was replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Normal service had otherwise resumed – Arteta’s men were coming up second best against a sturdy Everton backline – and Raya was forced into a terrific diving catch from Calvert-Lewin’s 63rd-minute curler.
Arsenal’s own talismanic attacker Havertz then headed – or shouldered – one of his own against the frame of the goal in the 67th minute, before Emile Smith Rowe and Timber were brought on to rapturous applause.
A combination of Pickford and Branthwaite then somehow kept Odegaard’s close-range effort out in the 71st minute, and the ball just would not go in for Arsenal; Smith Rowe was the next to hit the bar with a half-volley in the 83rd.
However, the elusive second would finally arrive for the hosts in the 89th minute, as Ashley Young‘s poor pass was intercepted by Gabriel Jesus, who combined with Odegaard to set up Havertz for a close-range finish.
The ball appeared to strike Jesus’s arm in the build-up, but the goal stood after a check of the screen from Michael Oliver, as the Gunners ended another campaign of close yet no cigar in ultimately positive fashion.
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