Arsenal turned Manchester City’s stumble into a title-race opportunity on Saturday, as Ezri Konsa and Gabriel both scored in a 2-0 win over Everton at a rain-soaked Emirates Stadium that lifted the Gunners level on points with the league leaders and left only goal difference separating the two sides at the top of the Premier League.
Before kick-off, players from both sides joined the crowd in a minute’s applause for Ken Friar, the long-serving club figure who died last week aged 92, and the emotion of the occasion carried Arsenal into a fast start, with a series of early corners piling pressure on the visiting goal.
Martin Odegaard’s front-post delivery reached Gabriel, whose flick forced Jordan Pickford to scramble across his line and tip the ball onto the bar, and Konsa reacted quickest among the crowded penalty area to prod the rebound home for his first goal in an Arsenal shirt.
Everton refused to fold, and James Garner’s low effort tested David Raya before Gabriel had to hack a corner off his own goal line, yet Arsenal kept creating the better chances.
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Noni Madueke twice produced moments of brilliance, first spinning away from a defender before dragging his shot wide and then plucking a ball out of the air and firing a first-time effort that rippled the side netting, while Odegaard dribbled past five Everton defenders before Vitalii Mykolenko’s sliding block denied him a spectacular goal.
Ben White’s poor header back to Raya briefly let Thierno Barry in just before the break, but the goalkeeper read the danger and cleared it.
Gabriel ensured Arsenal’s second-half control paid off after the Brazilian recovered from an awkward landing that required treatment, and on 68 minutes he met White’s clipped cross from the right, delivered after Bruno Guimaraes had fed the full-back, to head past Pickford on his 200th Premier League appearance, while White marked his own 200th Arsenal appearance with the assist.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s flicked header drifted just wide eight minutes from time and threatened a nervy finish, but Arsenal held firm to claim an eighth straight home win and extend Everton’s miserable record in north London to one victory from 31 visits.
Mikel Arteta praised his players’ mentality after a week that included a draw at Bayern Munich, a win at Nottingham Forest and a late return from Germany, saying he loved the team’s mindset and felt they fully deserved the win despite losing some players along the way, and he singled out Konsa for his personality and composure, Gabriel for the willingness to go again after his scare, and White for a transformation he described as immense. Across the campaign, Arsenal now have 11 wins from 13 games in all competitions.
The two results make this only the third top-flight season in which two clubs have won at least seven of their opening eight matches, following Preston and Sunderland in 1892/93 and Blackburn and Manchester United in 1913/14, and Arsenal can now look ahead to a Carabao Cup trip to Fleetwood Town on Tuesday, a visit to Liverpool the following Sunday and a Champions League tie against Slavia Prague on 4 November, while City host Brighton and Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup at the Etihad on Wednesday.
