Daily Archives: March 19, 2016

Everton Preview: Time to Pick Up the Points

In 2016, Arsenal has failed to muster up any form of consistency. According to the stats boys, the Gunners have won just four out of 15 games in the turn of the calendar year and it was against lowly Burnley, Hull, Bournemouth and 10-man Leicester City. Since then, it has been a flurry of disappointing draws and painful losses along the way.

There was a very familiar feeling when the Gunners crashed out of the FA Cup and Champions League in the same week, but Mesut Ozil has urged the team to fight on, as there is still a small glimmer of hope for their fading title challenge. For Arsene Wenger’s men to win the league this season, we have to win all their remaining games while hoping for other teams to do them favors against Leicester and Tottenham.

The record books favor Arsenal in this fixture, as Everton has one just once in the last 18 meetings (D6 L11), but Wenger’s side have won none of the last three league trips to Goodison Park (D2 L1). When both sides met earlier in the season, the Gunners ran out as 2-1 winners.

Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last five games in all competitions against Everton, including in each of the last three Premier League meetings.

Arsenal Team News

Wenger shared some insight on the wretched injury situation ravaging the club at the moment,

“Well, the other night we lost Mathieu Flamini with a hamstring injury, so he will be out. Wilshere is showing good signs now of recovery, Santi is a bit slower. The players who will definitely be back from injury [after the international break] will be Ramsey, Cech and maybe Flamini. But I don’t think Cazorla or Wilshere will be straight after the international break.”

The injuries continue to disrupt the squad but there are some players that will seize the opportunity to make their mark. Mohamed Elneny will want to build on his good performance at the Nou Camp and I don’t mind if he gets a two or two today because goals have been hard to come by nowadays at Arsenal.

Arsenal Injury / Suspension News

Jack Wilshere (ankle), Santi Cazorla (knee), Tomas Rosicky (thigh), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee), Carl Jenkinson (knee), Petr Cech (calf), Aaron Ramsey (thigh), Mathieu Flamini (hamstring)

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

Everton Team News

Romelu Lukaku was the star attraction when Everton eased past Chelsea to book a place in the semifinals. They have had the luxury of a week’s rest before todays encounter, unlike their opponents that had some mid-week action in a wet Camp Nou. However, the Toffees have somewhat struggled in the league this season, and they would be without a couple of players – most notably, Gareth Barry, that earned himself a red card in the FA Cup victory over Chelsea.

Everton Injury / Suspension News

Tyrias Browning (knee), Tony Hibbert (knee), Bryan Oviedo (illness), Steven Pienaar (knock), Darron Gibson (knock), Kevin Mirallas (suspension), Gareth Barry (suspension)

Everton Predicted Lineup