Mikel Arteta set to hand Arsenal signing from Man City a key role against Everton

Arsenal welcome Everton to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night and it could be that James Tarkowski proves to be the visitors’ biggest attacking weapon

There are a few positives to Arsenal facing Everton so soon after losing the first meeting between the two sides this season.

The most obvious one is an immediate chance to avenge the defeat at Goodison Park from just under a month ago as victory at the Emirates Stadium will see the north London outfit open up a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.

Although, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta knows his side must perform a lot better on home turf: “Well I think Everton were really good,” he said in the post-match press conference. “We have to congratulate them first for how they’ve turned things around and I think they made it difficult to win the game because they were really efficient.

“From our side disappointment because we didn’t get the result that we wanted and the performance doesn’t reflect what we’ve been doing especially in two phases – one, when they were really direct and we struggled to control that type of game and get back to the game that we wanted to play, and then with the amount of open situations that we generated in the final third that has to finish with goals and clear cut chances more than we’ve done today.”

The other positive to this game taking place 25 days after the first meeting is the Gunners know exactly what to expect and can therefore prepare appropriately for the biggest weapon in Everton’s arsenal; especially following the appointment of Sean Dyche as manager, set-pieces.

This routine proved to be Arsenal’s undoing on Merseyside as James Tarkowski rose above Martin Odegaard to head in Dwight McNeil’s pin-point delivery from a corner to get the Dyche era off to a dream start and place a small dent into the visitors’ title hopes in the process.

And the Toffees being a threat from set-pieces has continued to be a feature in the three games since. In the Merseyside Derby against Liverpool they were unlucky not to score from one right before conceding and it seemed their best route to goal in the 1-0 win over Leeds United and the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa at the weekend.

Interestingly, Tarkowski has proven to be somewhat of a machine for Everton at set-pieces as it’s very rare that he doesn’t win the first header. It was he who hit the woodwork at Anfield, it was he who won a couple of aerial duels at the back post against Leeds, and on Saturday he was responsible for a goalmouth scramble that almost led to a breakthrough.

So simply put, Arteta must devise a plan to stop Tarkowski and it just so happens that he has access to a set-piece specialist that has worked wonders at Arsenal over the past 18 months.

Nicolas Jover was added to the Spaniard’s coaching staff in the summer of 2021 after leaving Manchester City and his impact was immediate last season with the north London outfit defending set-pieces rather comfortably whilst also posing a threat of their own at the other end.

Recently, however, a flaw has emerged. In consecutive games against Manchester United, Everton and Brentford, the Gunners were undone by a set-piece which was a concern for Arteta: “Of course. You want to improve in every area. We are the third best team in terms of defensive set pieces,” he said after the Brentford game when Ivan Toney’s goal was controversially allowed to stand.

“We want to be the best. We discussed that today about giving nothing because from the start of play to set pieces this is their biggest strength. I thought we controlled them quite well. I think in that situation we had controlled them, but we hadn’t because they were offside and it’s always unfortunate when that happens because it costs you points, so set pieces are huge in this league, that’s for sure.”

Jover’s obvious attention to detail at both ends of the pitch is clear and it might just be that he’s handed a key role for the visit of Everton in an attempt for Arsenal to minimise Tarkowski’s threat from set-pieces.

Source: dailylifeworld.com