Arteta’s gamble shows Arsenal’s title dream is officially dead ...0

Everton 1-1 Arsenal (Ndiaye pen 49′ | Trossard 34′)

GOODISON PARK — Arsenal came to Goodison on Grand National day, knowing that unless Liverpool “did a Devon Loch” their title ambitions were dead. Despite the story of the Queen Mother’s horse collapsing in the home straight being regularly trotted out as a sporting metaphor, the story of the 1956 National has never translated easily to football.

The hope in north London was that this spring might be a repeat of 1998 when Arsene Wenger’s side sprinted past Manchester United in the final weeks, despite being at one stage 13 points adrift.

However, with eight matches left, Arsenal were then six points behind United with two games in hand. Now, Mikel Arteta’s side travelled to Merseyside with Liverpool leading by 12 points, in reality 13 with goal difference.

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Everything at the club is riding on Tuesday’s Champions League fixture with Real Madrid. Whatever happened in the soft spring sunshine, that story was unlikely to change.

The race for the 2025 Premier League title has long been one that existed only in the realm of mathematics. The number of first-choice players on the Arsenal bench was testament to that.

Arteta spent a few seasons of his playing career at Everton, where David Moyes affectionately described him as “grumpy”. The way in which Myles Lewis-Skelly tripped Jack Harrison to concede the penalty that brought Everton’s equaliser immediately after the interval would only have added to the grumpiness.

The result aside, this was a decent workout for Arsenal before the encounter with the European champions. At intervals during the second half, Arteta brought on Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard, all of whom should feature from the off on Tuesday night.

There were no wild tackles like the one James Tarkowski launched at Alexis Mac Allister in the Merseyside derby.

The challenge that led to Everton's penalty.Correct decision? @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/IAoT0g5LUZ

Tarkowski did pick up another yellow card, his 64th in the Premier League, which is a record for a player who has never been dismissed. The Everton captain contributed to a number of free kicks that, frankly, Arsenal ought to have done more with.

There was a casualness to much of the play. The Park End was crammed with banners, one of which proclaimed a love for Everton “more than life itself”, which on this evidence suggests the writer does not lead a particularly thrilling kind of existence.

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Early in the game, Jordan Pickford almost disastrously lost possession while wandering out of his goal with the ball at his feet while Raheem Sterling, one of those for whom this match would have mattered greatly, allowed the ball under his feet for a throw-in.

The first goal began with Everton surrendering possession while pressing in Arsenal’s area. Sterling brought the ball forward with flashes of the old, quick-footed skill before feeding Leandro Trossard to drive decisively past Pickford.

With a little under an hour’s play remaining, it should have provided a platform for a comfortable victory rather than a comfortable draw.

Moyes’s return has ensured Goodison’s farewell will not be conducted amid a frantic struggle against relegation. For the Everton fans, until the curtain falls on this grand old arena next month it will be about being there, the memories and the banners rather than the results. The Everton team, which has not won here since February, is taking its leave with a shrug of the shoulders.

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