da bet sport： Everton will be looking to pick up just their third Premier League win of the season when they host Arsenal at Goodison Park on Sunday, and the under-fire Ronald Koeman will know that a victory against the Gunners could prove to be the turning point in what has been a disappointing campaign.
da bet vitoria： After a big summer of spending the Toffees were expected to be challenging towards the top end of the table, but four defeats and just five goals scored in their eight top flight fixtures left them languishing in 16th position.
While the fact that they needed a last-gasp penalty from Wayne Rooney against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium last weekend isn’t exactly promising coming into this fixture, but it may have served to boost the confidence throughout the team.
A visit from Arsenal can sometimes be daunting, but the fact that they have lost three of their eight Premier League matches this term – including a 2-1 reverse against Watford at Vicarage Road last time out – suggests that an out-of-form Everton do have an opportunity to pick up the three points on Sunday.
While Koeman still seems to be struggling to find a formation that can work for his summer additions, he is also dealing with the fact his team are toothless in front of goal after the club failed to sign a Romelu Lukaku replacement before the window slammed shut at the end of August.
Rooney started in the centre-forward spot against Brighton and while he did get on the scoresheet, the lone striker role didn’t seem to suit him and he could revert back to a deeper position for the visit of Arsene Wenger’s men.
That could be a blow for Gylfi Sigurdsson though, who was finally given a start in his preferred number 10 position having spent much of the campaign out on the left, with Koeman so far failing to integrate three similar players in Rooney, Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen into a system that is effective.
While the Dutchman will have made a decision on which players will be in the starting line-up against Arsenal and which ones will be left out as soon as the Europa League clash against Lyon at Goodison Park on Thursday night was over, he could certainly learn a few lessons from watching Watford last weekend.
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Despite the fact that the Hornets had made a decent start to the Premier League season – and are perhaps where Everton think they should be in the table considering the transfer business they have done – they were beaten 6-0 at home against Manchester City last month and Arsenal would have fancied their chances of getting a positive result too.
Marco Silva’s side fell behind to a Per Mertesacker header in the 39th minute when former Toffee Tom Cleverley was confusingly left to mark the 6ft 6in German, and Everton certainly need to be smarter than that at set-pieces on Sunday having already conceded 13 league goals this season.
Watford were struggling to break down the Arsenal defence after that, which saw Silva decide to bring Troy Deeney on from the substitutes’ bench.
It was a decision that changed the game and the 29-year-old instantly started to cause problems for the three-man defence of Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal with his strength and just being a general nuisance.
The centre-forward admitted afterwards that he didn’t feel the players he was going up against had the ‘cojones’ or wanted it as much.
While Richarlison’s penalty may have been contentious, the Arsenal defence struggled to cope with the Brazilian’s direct running and Deeney put the spot-kick away, before Cleverley scored the winner in injury-time after the striker had once again caused problems for the Gunners backline.
It certainly showed what can happen if you put them under pressure, and Koeman must instruct his side to do that from the off in front of the Goodison Park faithful on Sunday in order to quickly get a frustrated crowd on their side.
Strong players and ones that are going to out the defence under pressure when they are in possession is what is needed, and the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ademola Lookman and Nikola Vlasic may well be more effective against the Gunners than Sigurdsson, Rooney or Klaassen would be.
With Rooney not looking suited to the centre-forward role, Calvert-Lewin would probably be the best option if Koeman intends to stick with a 4-2-3-1 system, although Oumar Niasse could also prove to be effective.
Koeman knows that he needs a big performance against Arsenal, and if he makes the right team selection then his team can get at the Gunners from the very start and get the positive result they are in desperate need of.