How big is the danger to Arsenal from Everton? Sam P
We all know about our away record this season, we have to improve that with five road games ahead of us but what about our opponents? It is one thing to focus on our performances when playing away but that has to be weighed up against the home records of our opponents.
Our next game is against Everton at Goodison Park and I have to be honest, it is not exactly a fortress.
It is always best to compare statistics with our closest rivals, no point looking at Everton playing Fulham or Huddersfield, the comparison has to be with the other clubs around us.
Everton 2 – 6 Tottenham Hotspur
Everton 0 – 2 Manchester City
Everton 0 – 0 Liverpool
Everton 2 – 0 Chelsea
So, one win, one draw and two losses against the top six so far this season for the Toffees.
We cannot say, wow, they beat Chelsea but ignore the fact they lost 6-2 to Spurs, we need some balance.
I watched the Chelsea game and the win for Everton was purely because the Blues had a poor game, if we played like they did that day we would lose, I never watched the Liverpool game and anyway, local derbies never follow form, the loss to City was expected, they are beating most teams and the 6-2 loss to Spurs has to be viewed as a one off, it is not as if Tottenham have beaten teams away by that sort of scoreline that often.
The point is that all things being equal, Everton come up short against the top six as last season showed when they had this record against the top six.
Everton 0 – 3 Tottenham Hotspur
Everton 2 – 5 Arsenal
Everton 0 – 0 Chelsea
Everton 0 – 2 Manchester United
Everton 1 – 3 Manchester City
Everton 0 – 0 Liverpool
Just two draws from those six games and it is noticeable that those “positive” results are against the exact same two teams that they got results from this season, albeit a draw instead of a win against Chelsea.
The results are sort of similar as well, 0-0 draw last season with Liverpool and same this season, a two goal losing margin to City and a three goal losing margin to Tottenham, only the Chelsea result this season was an improvement.
I know there is more to consider, like current form, new signings, new managers and so forth, but based on what I have seen this season against what happened last season I have every reason to feel very confident that we will beat Everton next Sunday.