Arsenal will take on Everton in the next round of the league after a frustrating but extremely important win against last-place Wolverhampton. Specifically at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, where the Gunners will travel for their first ever match. Will the hosts be able to Mikel Arteta's, who, by the way, spent several years of his playing career in the blue part of Liverpool, to take all three points in his first appearance at the new Toffees stadium? Although the north London footballers didn't put in their best performance against the last team in the table last week, they showed one thing to everyone. A winning mentality. After equalising in the ninetieth minute, Arsenal still managed to snatch victory. It's moments like this that separate the good teams from the best. Will the Wolves game be a turning point in Arsenal's season? Saturday's game against Everton will give us a clue. So let's take a look together at everything there is to know ahead of Everton's match with Arsenal.
Form
How are both teams doing with their current and longer-term form? That's exactly what we're going to look at today. Both teams have played so many games lately that there will be a lot to evaluate. There's nothing to wait for, let's go.
Arsenal
Fast repetition to long term form. Arsenal are 1st in the league table with only a two-point lead over second-placed Manchester City and a three-point lead over third-placed Aston Villa. In the Champions League so far this season, Arsenal are still sovereign. Also in the millionaire competition, Arsenal players top the table and they have a fantastic 100% record. As far as the League Cup is concerned, the Spanish manager's charges will already on Tuesday to face a quarter-final match against Crystal Palace. In the longer term, or from the start of the 2025/2026 season, Arsenal's form is fantastic.
In the short term, however, the team's current form is not the best. I certainly wouldn't want to make it sound like the current form of the Emirates Stadium players is bad, it certainly isn't, but we could have seen Arsenal in better form during this season. At least in terms of recent results. In the last five competitive games, the Gunners have managed three wins, one draw and one loss. Oddly enough, if I were to consider only the domestic league competition, these statistics are the same, except that the order of results is different. So what to take from this? I would probably focus on the last two games in particular, the games that followed the defeat at Villa Park. In the first, Arsenal played Bruges in a Champions League match without much trouble and won comfortably 3-0 in Belgium. I've written more than enough about the second game against Wolves today.
Overall rating? Current form is not the best, but still quite decent. Hopefully it will have an upward trend.
Everton
At Everton it will be because of his absence from European competitions much easier and faster evaluation. In the league table, David Moyes' men are the best in the league by their standards very good 9th place. In addition to the solid current position in the table, it should be added that Everton's loss to the TOP 4 is only four points, while the lead to the relegation places is very comfortable, eleven points. From this perspective, the players The Toffees are having an above average season so far. On the other hand, a failure can certainly be considered relegation from the League Cup, from which Everton knocked Wolverhampton out.
In terms of current form, Everton's recent five matches, all of which were in the Premier League, won the nine points. Taking into account the opponents that the Scottish manager's charges have had to face this season (Manchester United, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Nottingham and Chelsea), this is a very nice calling card for the club from Hill Dickinson Stadium. The 1-0 victory at Old Trafford deserves special mention, as the Toffees won despite playing almost the entire game at a numerical disadvantage.
Everton, despite defeat to Chelsea in the last round, are currently located in very good shape.
Team and expected line-up
All in. That's exactly the approach I expect from Mikel Arteta when selecting the starting lineup for the game at Hill Dickinson Stadium. A week between competitive games is a real luxury in the Arsenal camp these days, so no one is probably expecting anything different after a „long“ rest, than the strongest possible lineup.
The Spanish Arteta will certainly make a few changes. He'll be in the lineup after a card penalty the Italian defender will return Riccardo Calafiori. On the other hand, because of the injury. will be missed Ben White, who was not missing in the starting lineup in the last round. This time he was the playmaker start team captain Martin Ødegaard. I also expect the Spanish manager's starting eleven will return healed Leandro Trossard, who has been in above-average form this season. In my opinion, we will not see more personnel changes in Arsenal's starting lineup. But maybe I'm wrong.
In recent days, information has started circulating on social media that Kai Havertz suffered a new injury during his recovery, which will delay his return to the field for another month. However, Mikel Arteta himself confirmed at the pre-match press conference that the German footballer is progressing through the training process as planned, so I would rather believe the manager's statement than unsubstantiated speculation from the internet. Anyway will not be involved in the Everton game yet, just like Gabriel, Cristhian Mosquera and Ben White. The latter picked up a hamstring injury in the match against Wolverhampton. Fortunately, the injury of the English footballer is not serious and we could see him back on the pitch sometime in mid-January.
About the opponent
Everton and David Moyes, a phrase that most English football fans have etched in their memories. The Scottish manager has spent a good deal of time on the Liverpool bench, specifically serving the Toffees between 2002 and 2013. This was followed by not so successful engagements at Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland. After that, Moyes served for several years on the bench of London West Ham (with a year and a half long break), with whom he even won the European Conference League. But earlier this year, Moyes returned home again, to Everton. As I mentioned earlier today, Everton have been performing solidly under him in the Premier League this season.
Looking at the roster and its supports, I have to start right between the three poles. The long-time and unshakeable number one is Jordan Pickford, who, by the way, has the same position in the English national team. Although he does manage to make the occasional blunder, most of the time he is one of the best goalkeepers in the English Premier League. In defence, Everton rely heavily on an experienced pair of stoppers Michael Keane and James Tarkowski. From the backup line we should highlight a pair of Kiernan Drewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish, ...who's been dragging Everton along this season. Personally, I like them a lot as well Dwight McNeil and a young man Tyler Dibling. However, neither of them has got much space on the field this year. Maybe that will change against Arsenal, as the aforementioned Drewsbury-Hall and Grealish are dealing with muscle problems. Of the more offensive-minded players, I can't forget Iliman Nidaye.
Match
To be honest, after an unconvincing performance against Wolverhampton. I have two scenarios in my head that could happen at Hill Dickinson Stadium. The first, in my opinion more likely, is the one in which Arsenal will put the embarrassing win behind them against the last team in the table, and Everton by a class difference. The second, more pessimistic, The Gunners will continue in the same vein as they did at home against Wolves. I believe and hope that option number one, which I have identified as more likely, will occur. I will explain why. Mikel Arteta's charges had a week break from competitive matches before the match against Everton after a long time, so they could finally regenerate properly and prepare for the upcoming match. In addition, there was a lot of frustration seen in some players after the game against Wolverhampton despite the win. Arsenal players will no doubt want to show the football world that they are capable of more. The aforementioned week's break should help this considerably.
In terms of the game itself, I expect Everton, despite playing on home soil, will go into the game with a defensive tactic. This will determine the course of the match, in which Arsenal should dominate both in ball possession and territorial superiority. The biggest question is whether the north Londoners will be able to get chances and finish. And, more importantly, whether they can convert the chances they create. However, Arsenal will have to be careful on the other side of the pitch as well, because there are several great footballers in David Moyes' team, which I wrote about a few lines earlier today. Nevertheless, I believe that the Gunners will put in a dominant and responsible performance and that they will rob Hill Dickinson Stadium on their first visit. I predict Arsenal to win 2:0.
Next match
After a relatively rare week-long break in Arsenal's match schedule, the north London footballers will once again return to a regime of playing competitive matches every three days. The next game on Arsenal's schedule is the quarter-final of the English ELF Cup, which will be played 23 December 2025 from 21:00 (CET) at Emirates Stadium. Mikel Arteta's men will face a south London side in their quest for promotion, Crystal Palace.
See you next time, I'll look forward to it!
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Editor, administrator and editor of the True Gunner Diary website, but above all a devoted Arsenal fan. I started with sports articles at the Tipsport bookmaker, where I have published more than 100 blogs. If you want to know more about me, check out the section of the same name here on the site.