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How bad were Arsenal in midweek? Not as bad as the other English teams in the Champions League. Their 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen didn’t look good at the time but turned out to be the best result of the round by a PL club, equal with Newcastle (1-1 v Barcelona) and arguably better because Arsenal will be at home for the second leg. But quite a few Arsenal fans seem to feel their team are a bit jaded: it will be interesting to see if Havertz, Calafiori and Madueke can galvanise them.
The sun is shining in north London. But maybe not for long – the Met Office says there’s a 20pc chance of rain in Highbury between 6 and 7pm, rising to 30pc in the hour after that.
Late drama? No. So Bournemouth had to settle for a point at Burnley, which makes it six draws in nine league games since they let Antoine Semenyo go. And Sunderland went down to a rare home defeat to Brighton, which may have been decreed by the gods of symmetry. Sunderland now have 10 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats, and so do Brighton. The upshot is that Sunderland slide to 12th and Brighton soar to 10th. Between the two are Fulham, who have a game in hand.
We’re into added time in the 3pm kick-offs, with only one goal so far in the Premier League. Do join Will Unwin to see if there’s any late drama.
An email has landed! It’s from Dan Hoskins, who’s picking up on the opening paragraph of my preamble. “Good afternoon Tim,” he says. “Respectfully, could we call it the Kevin Campbell Derby? A player and man close to all our hearts at both clubs, whose character is missed by us all I think.” Point taken.
Fun fact
According to our friends at Sky, this is the first Arsenal starting XI to feature both Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz since December 2024, when they lined up against Crystal Palace. As well as a syllable, they share a quicksilver intelligence, so maybe Saka will be back to his best this evening.
Teams in full
Both teams have players missing, but one team looks way stronger than the other. Arsenal’s only worry might be if Martin Zubimendi gets clattered early on: their bench consists of a goalie, four defenders, two wingers and two centre-forwards. Presumably Myles Lewis-Skelly will slot into midfield if needed.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Zubimendi, Rice, Eze; Saka, Havertz, Madueke.
Subs: Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapié, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Gyokeres, Jesus, Martinelli.
Everton (4-2-3-1) Pickford; Garner, O’Brien, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Iroegbunam; Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall, McNeil; Beto.
Subs: Travers, Coleman, Aznou, Patterson, Armstrong, Dibling, Rohl, George, Barry.
Teams in brief: Havertz in, Tarkowski out
Mikel Arteta shuffles the pack, giving Kai Havertz his first start at centre-forward for quite a while and refreshing his left flank – out go Piero Hincapié and Gabriel Martinelli, in come Riccardo Calafiori and Noni Madueke.
For Everton, it’s all change at the back. James Tarkowski and Jarrod Branthwaite are missing, presumed injured, so Michael Keane comes in, Jake O’Brien slides across from right-back, James Garner takes his place there, and Tim Iroegbunam gets a start in midfield. What a shame for Tarkowski, especially: he would have loved all the argy-bargy at corners.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to what was, once upon a time, the Alan Ball derby. If we can believe the rumour mill, it may soon be the Myles Lewis-Skelly derby. For now, though, it’s definitely the Mikel Arteta derby.
In his days as a classy midfielder, Arsenal’s manager played more games for Everton than for anyone else. He was brought into English football by David Moyes, his opposite number this evening. The two of them have something in common which happens a lot in most walks of life and all too seldom in football: they’ve made their job their own.
Moyes is in his 13th year as Everton’s manager and they haven’t sacked him yet. Arteta, in his seventh year managing Arsenal, is the second longest-serving Premier League boss after Pep Guardiola. Not that durability guarantees entertainment. Since Moyes returned to Everton 14 months ago, his meetings with Arteta have been taciturn affairs.
In the last days of Goodison Park there was a 1-1, with Everton’s goal coming from a penalty by Iliman Ndiaye and Arsenal’s in open play from Leandro Trossard, assisted by Raheem Sterling (remember him?). Just before Christmas, at the Hill Dickinson, there was a 1-0 to Arsenal that came down to two penalty decisions. Arsenal won one, converted by Viktor Gyokeres. Everton thought they had one late on, when William Saliba kicked Thierno Barry in mid-air, but the VAR considered it “insignificant contact”.
There will be plenty of contact tonight, much of it significant. These are two big, strong, bellicose teams, who may well lay on a treat for connoisseurs of pushing and shoving.
Arsenal are top of the league, as you know, and also top of the home table in terms of points per game with 2.5, just ahead of Man City on 2.4. But Everton are top of the away form table (which covers the past six away games for each club) with 14 points, no defeats and a handsome set of victories – at Forest, Villa, Fulham and Newcastle.
Can they win at the Emirates too? Probably not, as no visitors from outside the top six have managed so much as a draw in the league this season: only Man United have gone home with all three points, and only Man City and Liverpool with one. But Moyes, who used to have a dismal record here, did win 2-0 on his last visit, with West Ham.
I warmed up for this game by going to watch Arsenal’s Under-21s last night. They too were at home, facing a smaller club who were wearing blue – Leicester City. And they lost 5-1.
