Everton 1-0 Arsenal: Gunners suffer blow in race for Premier League top four

Arsenal suffered a potentially crucial blow in the race for the top four as they were beaten 1-0 at Everton on Super Sunday.

Phil Jagielka was a late addition to the starting XI after Michael Keane was taken ill just before kick-off and proved to be the match winner when he tapped home inside 10 minutes.

• Arsenal's away form to cost them?

Arsenal improved briefly in the second half with Aaron Ramsey and Henrikh Mkhitaryan going close, but they were unable to take anything from the first of six remaining away games this season.

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The Gunners stay fourth, but missed the chance to leapfrog their rivals Tottenham into third place, and remain on 63 points with Chelsea, who play West Ham on Monday Night Football. Everton moved up one place to ninth with victory.

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Everton had won their previous two Premier League games and their confidence showed when they took an early lead. Jagielka made the initial flick on from a long throw, allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to nod the ball goalwards. Sead Kolasinac blocked the effort but could not stop the ball falling kindly for Jagielka, who tapped home his first league goal in two years.

Much of the first half was littered with fouls and free kicks, and there was a costly booking from Arsenal in the 25th minute, with Sokratis Papastathopoulous shown his tenth yellow card of the season for a block on Calvert-Lewin, and he will now miss the next two Premier League games against Watford and Crystal Palace.

While chances were at a premium, Everton did push for a second as the half came to a close. Gylfi Sigurdsson tried his luck from range, but did not have enough to beat Bernd Leno, before Richarlison's attempted cross was strongly put behind by Sokratis.

Unai Emery made a double change at half-time with Aaron Ramsey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang coming on for Mohamed Elneny and Kolasinac, and the Welshman made an instant impact. Jordan Pickford punched away an initial header from Ramsey, but he could only loop his rebounded volley over the crossbar.

Mkhitaryan had a quiet game but was inches away from getting Arsenal level with 20 minutes to play, sending the ball just past the post, before Everton twice went close. Sigurdsson could only direct a powerful, low strike into the hands of Leno before Richarlison sliced wide on a tight angle.

The intensity of the game reached boiling point in the 82nd minute as Shokdran Mustafi caught Calvert-Lewin with a foot, sending the England U21 striker rolling to the floor. It happened right by the technical areas which led to a confrontation between the two dugouts and a launched coat from Mesut Ozil on the bench.

But Calvert-Lewin was soon back on his feet and Mustafi into the book a Everton saw the game out for their third successive Premier League win.

Ozil frustration boils over

Mesut Ozil showed his frustrations at Arsenal's impending defeat when he appeared to throw his coat at the Everton bench during a late confrontation. Hit play to watch below!

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Everton have won three consecutive Premier League matches without conceding for the first time since January 2017.

Aged 36 years and 233 days, Everton defender Phil Jagielka became the oldest player to score a Premier League goal this season.

Arsenal are one of only two teams in the top four tiers of English league football this season without an away clean sheet this season, along with Championship side Ipswich Town.

Everton's Gylfi Sigurdsson attempted seven shots in this match - as many as the entire Arsenal team combined.

Everton have won their last two Premier League games against 'big six' opponents - as many as in their previous 41 league games against them (W2 D14 L25).

• Premier League top scorers

The managers

Marco Silva: "Congratulations to our players, our fans in our stadium, we fully deserve three points. To play efficient football, to be creative, to create chances to score, we have to be solid as a team. We didn't give them many chances to create problems. The win is fair, but in my opinion more fair with more goals."

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Unai Emery: "Today, there were two different halves. In the first half, we were consistent, we didn't concede good chances for them but they scored from one throw in, unfortunately for us, and in the attacking third, we needed more.

"But if the result was like we deserved in the first half - equal - we can continue like that in the second half and use the moment to take a better result and better chances in the attacking third.

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"But with the half-time result, we needed to change quickly and in the second half, we decided to change the system and defensively, we lost consistency. They created more chances and we created better chances than the first and we didn't score. We need this balance in both halves. We lost a great opportunity today to take three points."

Man of the match - Dominic Calvert-Lewin

It was an impressive performance from the 22-year-old, who did not stop running for the entire game. He had a hand in the opening goal, helping to send the ball towards Jagielka, and could be found driving down the field on numerous occasions - even in the 82nd minute.

He showed hunger, desire and determination to make things happen for Everton, gave the Arsenal defence a real hard time - including bookings for Sokratis and Mustafi - and has been a real catalyst in Everton's recent up-turn in form.

Sky Sports pundit Alex Scott: "We have to talk about man of the match Calvert-Lewin, he has added another dimension to this side. Right now for this team, he is a solution because with his energy and pulling out the Arsenal defenders like he was today into the channels.

"If it is another Everton player in a different game, they aren't making those runs and aren't willing, they think the ball is going out of play, but the Everton fans love that, they want to see it from their players."

What's next?

Everton travel to already-relegated Fulham in their next Premier League game on Saturday while Arsenal have a huge week coming up. They host Napoli in the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday before travelling to Watford on Monday Night Football on April 15.

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