With a Champions League spot on the line, 3rd place Arsenal and 6th place Everton battled a hard fought match to a nil-nil draw. The result should not be too detrimental to Arsenal’s Top 4 hopes but leaves the Toffees in a position where the Europa League may now be the target.
Here are four talking points from today’s match.
Moment Of Silence For Victims In Boston
What a classy move by Arsenal to hold a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. A lot has been made of these moments being so trite that they lose their effectiveness. Some have even suggested they be done away with all together.
But if for only a moment the football world acknowledges that there are bigger, more important things that connect us together than mere sport, it’s difficult to see how this can be a bad thing.
Physical Play All Part Of The Plan
As the first-half roared to life Everton reached deep into their blue collar roots to deliver some fierce tackles that Arsenal didn’t take kindly to. Marouane Fellaini managed three fouls in the opening nine minutes, Ross Barkley laid a thumping tackle on Jack Wilshire and Darron Gibson implanted himself between Theo Walcott’s legs, much to the ire of the Emirates faithful.
The physical manner in which Everton imposed itself toed the line between hard and dirty. The Toffees were determined to get stuck in and do whatever necessary to thwart the speedy counter-attack of Wilshire, Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey.
But as soon as things looked like they might be getting out of hand, David Moyes pulled his troops back. The teethy challenges receded and it became clear that the physical play was simply an opening siege in the Scot’s battle plan.
Time To Give Aaron Ramsey Some Credit
Aaron Ramsey will not go down as an Arsenal great, but he’s vastly improved over the last year. The Welshman used to suffer from taking too many touches and being deployed on the wing, which didn’t suit his strengths. Recently he’s back playing in the middle of the park and has been playing much simpler, more effective football.
On Tuesday he lined up next to a subdued Mikel Arteta and an out of form Wilshire. While his partners struggled, Ramsey took the bull by the horns – flying into tackles, diffusing the barreling runs of Fellaini, distributing with acuity and showing deceptive speed on the counter-attack.
The unlikely engine of the Arsenal midfield, Ramsey was Arsenal’s man-of-the-match.
Ross Barkley, Growing Up Before Our Very Eyes
Everyone knows that Everton’s 19 year old man child, Ross Barkley, has the talent to be a great footballer. But until today’s match that talent had largely gone unfulfilled. After a stunning debut against QPR to kick off the 2011-12 season, the Wavertree-born attacker tailed off and David Moyes was quick with the hook.
After a handful of substitute appearances and loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United, Barkley was reintroduced at Everton this past March. The result was three ineffective displays against Wigan, Stoke and Spurs that caused Evertonians to re-think Barkley’s place in the team.
But Moyes stuck with the boy, handing him a starting spot against Arsenal as a replacement for the injured Leon Osman. Fellaini dropped into the midfield leaving Barkley to play in the hole behind Victor Anichebe. The result was spectacular.
Barkley displayed masterful skill, an adept ability to hold up the ball and an eye for goal that nearly resulted in a match-winner. Even more endearing, the broad-shouldered forward dropped into the defensive third on at least three occasions to disposes the Arsenal attack. That’s the kind of spirit that epitomizes Everton.
Has he arrived? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But Barkley is definitely growing up before our very eyes.
