Two Late goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud saved Arsenal from an embarrassing defeat and earned them a 2-2 draw with Everton at Goodison Park, Saturday afternoon.
Everton were almost at the brink getting a double over the Gunners as they were swung into the driving seat with two first-half goals from Seamus Coleman and Steven Naismith but Arsenal had to labour had to get back into the game to earn at least a point.
Despite scoring on the opening weekend against Leicester City, Aiden McGeady dropped to the Everton bench as Belgium forward Kevin Mirallas earned a starting role.
Arsenal welcomed back Germany World Cup winners Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil, while Alexis Sanchez was handed a central striking role for the first time by Arsene Wenger as Olivier Giroud drops to the bench
Steven Pienaar's early departure through injury appeared to unsettle Everton and a badly misjudged 15th-minute clearance by Coleman saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shoot narrowly wide from the edge of the area.
But Coleman soon settled his and Everton's nerves when he stole in behind Ozil to head home Gareth Barry's sublime 19th-minute cross.
Three minutes later, Naismith flicked on another excellent lofted pass from Barry to send Mirallas bearing down on goal, but his shot went just wide under pressure from Calum Chambers and Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Mirallas then grazed the top of the netting with a 35th-minute free-kick before, just as it appeared Arsenal had weathered the storm, Everton doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time.
Romelu Lukaku sent Mertesacker tumbling - in want should have been a freekick to the London club - and raced towards goal, eventually picking Naismith to produce a measured finish - despite strong suspicions of offside.
Wenger replaced Alexis with Giroud at half-time and the France striker almost made an instant impact, smashing a volley over on the end of Oxlade-Chamberlain's raking pass within a minute of the restart.
Barry continued to orchestrate the play wonderfully for Everton in midfield and Jack Wilshere offered a demonstration of Arsenal's frustrations when he scythed through his one-time England team-mate and was shown a deserved yellow card.
Ramsey played in Giroud to rifle a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area midway through the second half before the Welsh midfielder drew a sharp stop from Tim Howard as Arsenal sought to launch a final assault.
Santi Cazorla replaced ineffective WIlshere and injected some clever footwork and an excellent low cross into the six yard area for Ramsey score with six minutes remaining, before Giroud show huge strength to hold of Distins Challenge and head home Monreal’s cross to complete the comeback.
0 comments:
Post a Comment