Arsenal 2 – Everton 0 match report: comprehensive, satisfactory

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Gabriel of Arsenal celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Arsenal FC and Everton at Emirates Stadium on October 24, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) | Getty Images Arsenal reclaimed a share of the Premier League lead with a complete-game, 2-0 win over Everton at the Emirates. The Gunners put in one of their better performances of the season, controlling the play, generating chances, and keeping the visitors safely at bay. The only complaint you could level at the squad is that they didn’t put more gloss on the scoreline earlier in the match.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Arsenal took a 7th minute lead when Ezri Konsa got the final touch off a goalmouth scramble from the third corner kick back-t0-back. I said it after the Bayern match — good things (goals) were bound to happen at some point if the Gunners continued to get the ball into dangerous areas bouncing around chaotically. The marker was Arsenal’s first from a corner kick this season. A bit odd after last season’s dominance from the dead ball because set piece goals have, historically, been one of the things squads are able to repeat year-over-year. We’d had enough of those pesky open play goals, anyway.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The Toffees responded well to going behind and made things uncomfortable for a spell, aided by Arsenal being a bit loose with the ball on the wet pitch. Eventually, the Gunners calmed things down and slowed the pace of play. There was no reason to get into a track meet from 1-0 up. With control re-established, Arsenal created chance after chance. Ebere Eze got his final touch wrong. Noni Madueke fired two good opportunities wide. Mikel Merino had a great chance blocked and headed over the net from a set piece with the last touch of the half.

class="wp-block-paragraph">It’s a shame Arsenal went into halftime just 1-0 up. They were excellent in the first half and had plenty of chances to extend the lead (1.3 xG – 0.2 xG, 1st half). To be fair, David Raya had to make a tremendous reaction save after Thierno Barry intercepted a very loose back-header from Ben White. It would have felt horrible to hand Everton an equalizer from a mistake like that, particularly when they didn’t generate anything of note on their own.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The second half started with more of the same — Arsenal in control, doing good things, but not scoring goals. We all had a massive scare when Gabriel took a hard, awkward fall and stayed down and immediately held his hand up. Fortunately, it turned out he just jarred himself smashing his right knee into the ground. You can understand why he stayed down — slammed into the ground in a very weird, unnatural way.

class="wp-block-paragraph">It’s a good thing the Brazilian stayed on. About 10 or 15 minutes after he had us all holding our breath, he had us jumping for joy. The towering centerback was left unmarked at the back post and guided home Ben White’s cross for Arsenal’s second, finishing off a lovely attacking move. He really couldn’t mark his 200th appearance for the club any better — a goal and a clean sheet (?)

class="wp-block-paragraph">Arsenal saw out the final 20 minutes or so without much incident save a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall glancing header bouncing wide of the post. There was room for it to sneak inside the post, too.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Other than that, Thierno Barry looks to have broken Martin Zubimendi’s nose with an elbow on a play where the foul went against the Arsenal man. Max Dowman was called for a foul on a play where both he and the fullback were jostling. The match was full of incidents like that and there seemed to be two different sets of rules for fouls. So your standard Premier League refereeing performance. Arsenal were too good for it to matter.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Next up for Arsenal is away to Fleetwood Town in the League Cup before a trip to Anfield next weekend in the Premier League.