Ozil goal not enough as Arsenal draw with Everton

Arsenal were made to work for a tough 1-1 draw with Everton on Sunday afternoon in what turned out to be our toughest test of the season so far. Mesut Ozil found the net before young Spaniard Gerard Deulofeu scored all in the space of 4 minutes as the Gunners extended their lead at the top to five points. It was far from comfortable and on the bases of chances we should've won. However, Everton had played so well in the first half meaning a draw was probably a fair result. Having made 5 changes in the week against Hull, 4 of the players that missed the game came back in to face the Toffees. Gibbs replaced Monreal whilst Giroud and Wilshere came in for Bendtner and Rosicky respectively. There was also a start for Mikel Arteta against his former side having missed the game against in the week.

Laurent Koscielny was a rock at the back

Everton have only lost one game in the Premier League this season, they've also got one of the best defensive records following a fine string of clean sheets. Arsenal had only lost twice and also had a pretty good defence to bolster as well. It had all the characteristics to be a classic and that's exactly what we got. Everton had turned up to win, and following strong performances against Liverpool and Manchester United recently, why wouldn't they? They dominated us in the first half and had pretty much all of the possession, we hadn't struggled that much since Villa on the opening day. The second half was a different story though and despite Arsenal having the better chances on the day, it took 80 minutes for the deadline to be broken. Ozil coolly found the net after Walcott had headed the ball back across goal for the opener. The tempo then upped itself once more as Everton came back firing and scored a deserved equaliser through some individual brilliance from Deulofeu.

Both sides defence was in top form during this game so it was no surprise as to why the goals came so late. The Gunners built on their impressive form at the back by only conceding one in an especially strong display from Laurent Koscielny. He seemed to have been given the job of marking the improbable Romelu Lukaku who he had an absolute stormer up against. Lukaku had been in prolific form this season but Koscielny made him look ordinary with a performance that outlined just how good the French defender is. Mertesacker and Koscielny can now add Lukaku to the list of attackers such as Suarez, Sturridge and Lewandowski they've had in their 'back pocket'.

I don't often pick up on individual performances on the oppositions side but I think some of Everton's players deserve a mention. In my opinion we witnessed four of the most solid centre backs in the league on display yesterday. Jagielka and Distin were fantastic and managed to prevent us from getting in through our classic little passes on the edge of the penalty area. If it wasn't for the convincing displays at the back we would've witnessed more than one goal a piece. Another player that caught many peoples eyes was that of Ross Barkley. He was sensational in the middle of the park. I hadn't seen him play a full 90 minutes until now and I must be honest, I wasn't entirely convinced with him until he played us. However, having now seen him properly he really is a special talent. He's good on both feet and isn't scared to take people on and play a killer pass or have a shot on goal.

Back to Arsenal and the few negatives from the game that can be picked out. Mikel Arteta, despite being against his old team, unfortunately didn't have the best of games. He's been playing pretty well recently but on Sunday he was quite wasteful in possession and was bullied by Barkley in midfield. Perhaps its time to give Flamini another run in the team after his cracking start to the campaign. Flamini and Rosicky when they came on completely changed the game in my opinion. Ramsey and Wilshere who have been brilliant recently were outshone and were wasteful, something that we haven't been used to from the pair lately. Olivier Giroud was slated by some sections of the fans but I thought he did well and he's a key reason as to why our midfielders have been in such good form. His lay-offs and link up play is probably second to none in the Premier League. Giroud was desperately close with seconds left on the clock to winning the game too. He took the ball down and then fired an incredible effort that crashed against the crossbar from 25 yards out. Had it gone in, it would've been goal of the season without a doubt.

It was a missed opportunity to go seven points clear at the top. With our next two games against City and Chelsea, that would've been amazing. However a draw against an inform Everton side is nothing to be ashamed off and we'll go into our next game 5 points clear.

The teams lineups:

Arsenal: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey(68), Wilshere(68), Ozil, Cazorla(68), Giroud.
Subs: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Monreal, Flamini(68), Rosicky(68), Walcott(68), Bendtner. 

Everton: Howard, Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Oviedo, Barry, McCarthy, Pienaar(77), Barkley(90), Mirallas(79), Lukaku. 
Subs: Joel, Heitinga, Stones, Osman(71), Naismith(90), Deulofeu(79), Jelavic. 

My man of the match: Laurent Koscielny/Mesut Ozil.

Referee: Howard Webb.
Attendance: 60,001.