efc 1-2 Arsenal

Well, Seamus Coleman aside, that was shite.

Johnny Heitinga returned to centre midfield to replace the suspended Marouane Fellaini, whilst Coleman was rightly restored to the starting line up in the place of the ineffectual Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.

It never really worked. Once ref Howard Webb had ear-marked Heitinga for special attention early on, the Blues just could not get any kind of momentum needed to break down and Arsenal side who, while not at their slick best, where still far and away ahead of were we need to be. They just simply kept the ball better, defended better and had control of the game until the last 5 minutes at least.

It's been said that when Arteta either doesn't play or have a bad game, we're half the side as a result, and boy did his horror show of a performance epitomise our all round shite-ness. The Spaniard had one of those off-days where nothing he tried worked. We're well used to his poor corners by now, his free-kicks to goals ration is 1 out of 10 at best (though Leighton Baines should have manned up a bit and bullied him off one that was clearly a left-pegger), but his normally immaculate passing deserteted him and he was merely a passenger until he was withdrawn for Yakubu.

The goals themselves were very avoidable, especially the first one. A shot from the edge of the box by Andrei Arshavin I think, was saved by Tim Howard, but Arsenal were first to the rebound and Bacary Sagna was teed up for an effort similar to Tim Cahill's in the derby and this was equally twatted into the roof of the net. The second I don't remember much about (what? This isn't Sky fucking Sports!), just Cesc Fabregas cooly slotting past Howard 3 minutes after the break.

Despite the introduction of Jermaine Beckford for Phil Nevill and Jack Rodwell for the unlucky on this occasion Heitinga, chances were still few and far between. Rodwell should really have scored from 10 yards in from of the Glwadys Street, only to hammer a pull back over the bar. It wasn't until the 89th minute when Cahill prodded home from a corner that Everton got into the game and had Arsenal on the run, the 4 minutes of injury time saw Everton launch the type of bombardment we'd expect in return, but despite several chances to shoot for goal, nothing came of it and we were left to rue a very poor performance, even if it was against a title-chasing side.

So it's Sunderland next. Easy peasy Saint & Greavesy eh.




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