Arsenal are looking for their fourth win and our fourth clean sheet in a row in todays game against Everton at the Emirates. The Toffees are no pushovers either, having been unbeaten in seven games before last weeks 3-0 defeat to Man United. Their only other defeat this season was at the hands of Manchester City and will be looking to bounce back today against Arsenal.
In the run up to today’s game, Wenger pinpointed which would be the most influential player for each side, and it is little surprise that Le Prof has picked Mesut Ozilhe Gunners, who has begun to prove why he is our record signing. “I would like to give him credit because he worked in a very disciplined way on Tuesday night [against Bayern],” Wenger said on Arsenal.com. “I asked him to play a special role that was much deeper and he still found the resources to go forward and also score the goal.
“You could see by the way he celebrated how committed he is. He’s becoming a complete player and he does his job, he works very hard, much harder than people think when you look at his stats.
“He’s very efficient offensively as well. He creates chances and now he starts to score goals as well. That’s absolutely fantastic.”
Ozil is a world-renowned talent with immense experience, but for Everton, Wenger has picked an up-and-coming 21 year-old Englishman, Ross Barkley. He is a local Liverpool lad, and despite his age has already made 17 appearances for the England senior side, and Arsene can see him as already being a force to be reckoned with. “He has tremendous physical power and he has a good technical level,” Wenger said. “A very strong technical level and his combination of technique and power makes him a very dangerous player.
“He can pass the ball well in the final third, he can finish and overall in this position you do not find many players that have that combination of abilities.”
Everton are used to making life difficult for the Gunners, and their form this season shows that they can do so again today, but which will be the most influential out of Ozil or Barkley? We’ll find out this evening…..