Of course Arsene Wenger is doing the right thing by warning his Arsenal players not to take Everton for granted and reminding them that the Toffees have always got the potential to be dangerous. Having said that I do think that the Toffees are there for the taking and so the Gunners should be planning to return from Merseyside with all three points.
In the Arsenal pre-match press conference reported by Arsenal.com yesterday the boss was quick to dismiss Everton’s poor recent record against us, with just one win the last 19 meetings, as well as the fact that they are currently on a poor run after a great start under Ronald Koeman, in order to make sure the Gunners keep up the performance levels that have seen us climb to second spot.
The Frenchman said, “Well, he has changed them. I think they had a strong start, Everton, and overall they are one of the dangerous teams where you look at the schedule and you need a strong performance to get the points. I believe he has started very well.
“We always prepare well because it’s a very difficult ground. It’s a ground which has a soul and is full of history, and that certainly keeps us on alert.
“They were very close [to the top four] many times and I think they’ve been in the top four, in the Champions League, once or twice since I’ve been here. Why [haven’t they made the step]? Because they have had top-quality clubs and teams in front of them. For many years you’ve had teams like Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, and it’s been difficult for them to get in there.
“I knew [Lukaku] when he played in Belgium. He came to Chelsea very early and, once a player is at a big London club, it’s difficult for us to get him.
I don’t really know [why Everton have only won 1 in 10]. I think the difficulty of the Premier League maybe.”
The thing is, though, that they have and Arsenal have to make sure we keep their poor run going. It is remarkable after they won five of their first six games of the season, but all we can do is to take advantage and with the bid derby against Liverpool coming up next they might even be distracted as well as being low on confidence, so is this the best possible time for Arsenal to go to Goodison?
Bob.