The Game

Two away wins in the space of five days are definitely the best way to approach next week’s North London derby against Tottenham as we go back second in the table taking full advantage of Chelsea’s defeat.

Today’s game was very similar to last Wednesday’s. Our players understood that they needed to be patient, they had to sit back and take full advantage of opportunities when counter attacking was possible. Of course when this happens the defensive department has to be perfect and I must say that our back four did exceptionally well out there.

As it’s almost always the case, I have to mention Lukasz Fabianski’s performance. Though not as difficult as the one against Wolves in the last part of the game, today he made three-four very good saves to deny the Toffees, well done Lukasz.

Johan Djourou also deserves credit, rock solid at the back and phenomenal in the air to block aerial threats. If he can keep it up and with Laurent Koscielny set to return next week, it would be fantastic to know that we have four centre backs on who to rely.

To conclude, and just like Wednesday, I’m delighted with our performance. It is impossible to expect us to win all games by playing nice football and scoring nice goals, sometimes we have to be patient, we have to let the opposition run to show and make sure to take our few chances. This is what we did in our last two games and with our defensive department growing in confidence, we can indeed look forward with the optimism.

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Match Video Highlights

Match video highlights are available in the Videos section of our website. If not there yet, rest assured they will be up in a matter of hours.

Player Ratings

Fabianski: 8 – As he said after Wolves, his confidence is making all the difference and we can easily say we are very, very close to fix all our goalkeeping problems.

Squillaci: 7 – Caught on the wrong foot sometimes but an overall solid performance from the Frenchman. Was he lucky not to see red for that challenge on Saha? Maybe, I need to see it again.

Djourou: 7,5 – I wasn’t happy with his performances lately but today he was a rock, excellent defensive performance from the Swiss.

Sagna: 7,5 – It is funny how his goal comes days after he was saying how much he wants to improve in front of goal. Great strike and very good game in the defensive department as well although he committed a number of fouls in dangerous areas which could have been avoided.

Clichy: 7 – Made his usual mistake in the second half which allowed Everton to go close but overall it was another very good game from Gael, he’s improving and nice to see.

Wilshere: 4,5 – Struggled from the first minute and the numerous fouls he was suffering from Heitinga didn’t help.

Song: 6,5 – Some of his passes when pushing forward were very bad but credit for helping out the back four especially in the final part of the game when we were under pressure. Ultimately his job is to hold the midfield and help the defensive department. As long as he does that, I can accept mistakes when we attack.

Fabregas: 7 – Some of his passes were so unlike him and I still believe he is to calm down out there, argues too much with the referees and should be more careful with his tackles. Nonetheless, he made sure to help defensively and scored a very good goal.

Arshavin: 6 – Made one of his typical runs in the 17th minute and was brilliant to lay-it off to Bacary when we took the lead which clearly demonstrates how important he can be us. Made an effort to help defensively as well but unfortunately he faded away as the game progressed.

Nasri: 7,5 – Top class performance. One of the best players even when we were under heavy pressure in the first part of the game. Twice went close, deserved to score.

Chamakh: 6,5 – Terrible miss to give us a comfortable 0-3 lead but credit for helping the defensive department after we took the lead. He twice cleared the danger from Everton corners in the final part of the first half which clearly shows how important he can be when we are under pressure.

(Subs)
Denilson: 7,5 – Came on and changed the game after only five minutes. His runs were timed to perfection and made some crucial interceptions especially when facing Tim Cahill.

Rosicky: 6 – Not much in the offensive department but I loved his contribution at the back and the help he provided to Clichy.

Eboue: No Vote – Not enough to rate.