morning.
This will be their first home game since they played two consecutive home games against Shakhtar and Liverpool in October. After beating Monaco in midweek, today it’s Everton and it’s a game that could be a little trickier than it looks on paper. They had 10 days off due to the postponement of the Merseyside derby and looked quite fresh against an Arsenal team they had played three days earlier.
Their game plan is likely to be to sit deep and defend, so they may feel a bit bored, but it’s still a game where they need to take three points away. The injury news was positive for Gabriel, but nothing more, but if he’s healthy it’s a huge boost. While Jakub Kiwir can’t be ignored, having performed well in the Brazilian’s absence, Gabriel’s presence and threat from set-pieces will give Everton more to think about.
The Poland international could still be used at left-back if Mikel Arteta decides the physical demands on Myles Luiz-Skelly are too great, but after his performance in the Champions League there would be no hesitation in playing him again today. If so, I think it will be Jurien Timber at right-back after he was given a smaller role against Monaco on Wednesday. I also think adding him to the Odegaard/Saka dynamic gives us a better chance of finding a way if we’re up against a team that sits deep and denies us space. The Dutchman could be important today as Partey doesn’t offer the overlapping threat of Timber and Ben White.
Asked about midfielders Rice, Merino and Odegaard at his press conference, Arteta said:
There’s been a lot of new units coming out lately, and that’s definitely something we’ve been planning and discussing, and I think they could fit together really well. They’ve done a really good job and we’ll be playing together again in the near future. I think they complement each other really well.
The key is the word ‘plan’, and I think it was a combination that the manager wanted to use much earlier. It’s a bit mad that it got to December before they started together for the first time, but injuries have been devastating this season and this is a great example of that. We need to see it more often to evaluate how it performs, and today is another opportunity to do that. It’s balanced well overall, and the left side attack has become more complex, so I’m curious to see it work again.
I think further forward we will see Kai Havertz again. His height and presence could be important against teams like Everton who create physicality and dime down the left flank. It could be Leandro Trossard, it could be Gabriel Martinelli or even Gabriel Jesus, but hopefully whoever is placed there can deliver the goods. It also feels like a day when the bench might be important. If Everton put up stubborn resistance, they will need to add some freshness to turn things around.
Hopefully a good initial goal will open things up a bit. They haven’t scored too many goals this season, but if Everton’s plan is to stay compact and tight, scoring quickly will put them in danger and hopefully we can take advantage. We created a lot of chances against Monaco on Wednesday. We definitely need to be more clinical and if we are, I think we should win this game.
Okay, I’ll leave it there for now. There is a preview podcast Available now on Patreon. join us later Real-time blog coverageYou’ll also get match reports, goal clips, reactions, player ratings and more. Arceblog News.
Until then.
