Match Review - Everton 2 Arsenal 1 - How far can Everton go?

How good is it being an Evertonian at the moment? Christmas is coming and Everton are 2nd in the league. If you'd have asked anybody how many points we were likely to get out of Chelsea, Leicester and Arsenal I think even the most biased of us would have been hard pushed to have said 9 and mean it. Yet, here we are 1 week and 3 games later, with 9 points in the bag and sat pretty in a Champions League spot.

I'll keep this short and sweet as in truth this game wasn't a classic. I thought we started well enough and controlled the game from the off. I was impressed particularly with how Davies and Doucoure started the game in the absence of Allen - snapping into tackles with high intensity.

A word for Ben Godfrey also, who was outstanding throughout today. He set his stall out early making sure Pepe knew he was in a game, and endeared himself to the Gwladys Street faithful with a couple of crunching tackles. I've spoken before about how impressed I've been with Godfrey, particularly as he's yet to get a run in his actual position. In this game he proved again what an absolute gem of a signing he's been.

Despite having control of the game I did feel like we were struggling a little to create chances in the early part of the game. It was almost as if we weren't sure what to expect from Arsenal and were just feeling them out.

Then came the break through in the 22nd minute - the ball finding its way to the ever-impressive Alex Iwobi on the right hand side, who whipped in a great cross for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to get on the end of. Dom's header ricocheted off Rob Holding in the Arsenal defence and flew past the keeper to make it 1-0 to Everton - a lead I felt was more than deserved.

Arsenal then appeared to increase their tempo a little and put us under a bit of pressure. I thought we managed it relatively well, but one poor passage of play led to an equaliser which, at the time, was probably fair on the balance of play. Yerry Mina failed to properly clear his lines and his header fell on the edge of the box to Tom Davies. Unfortunately, Tom had no idea what was around him and in swinging a leg to clear the ball brought down Maitland-Niles for the penalty.

It was a shame for Davies as I actually thought up until that point he'd done really well. Pepe stuck the penalty away to make it 1-1. Luckily, we only had to wait 10 minutes before the blues were back in front, with Yerry Mina rising to meet a Sigurdsson corner and power a header beyond Leno, redeeming himself for his earlier error in the build up to the penalty.

At half time I tweeted that I felt if Everton just stepped it up a gear in the second half we could have scored 3 or 4. As it happened the second half was somewhat of a none event, as we professionally saw the game out. Arsenal huffed and puffed but rarely threatened with any purpose. It wouldn't be Everton if there weren't a couple of nail-biting moments in the dying seconds of course, but we dealt with them and made sure of the win.

The question now - and it is a question I'd love for you readers to answer - is just how far can this Everton team go? Currently 2nd in the league (albeit with teams around us with games in hand) is it realistic to think that we could actually qualify for the Champions League this season?

Don't forget, all 3 of our wins this week have been achieved without Lucas Digne, Seamus Coleman and James Rodriguez, and tonight's without Allan also. We have a striker in Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the form of his life and a manager who knows what it takes to win.

My personal opinion is if we finish in a Europa League place this year that will be success in the league - I just don't think we have a deep enough squad to compete at the very top. However, with Rodriguez and Coleman returning shortly, Gbamin back in training, and a January transfer window around the corner, this could soon be rectified.

The key for any team wanting to finish in the top 4 this year, more than ever, is consistency. We have proven this week that putting a run of wins together can catapult you up the table. While the teams you would expect to be challenging for the top 4 are faltering, you could argue the opportunity is there for Everton to capitalise.

And then there are the cup competitions, which I'm not ashamed to say are the be all and end all for me. As a fan who isn't old enough to properly remember the last trophy win, it would mean everything to me if we were able to win a cup. I'd take that over finishing in the top 4 - or even top 6 - any day.

Could we do both? Who knows. We can but dream. My advice would be to just sit back and enjoy the ride, as with Everton nothing is guaranteed.

Positive - Momentum building

Could have gone with 1 of several positives here but went with the one I believe to be the most important.

With so many games in such a short space of time it was vital for us to put that bad run prior to Chelsea behind us and get back to winning ways. Thankfully, that is exactly what we've done. 3 wins in a week against Chelsea, Leicester and now Arsenal have not only put us in a great position in the league table but have now given us that all important thing that every team craves going into Christmas...momentum.

We go into the Carabao Cup Quarter Final against Manchester United on Wednesday full of confidence and in a great vein of form. Fingers crossed the lads can do the business again and take us a step closer to our first trophy since 1995.

Negative - None

I could go on about how I'm convinced Jordan Pickford is going to cost us success this year but I won't. We're 2nd.

Player Ratings

Pickford - 7 - flapped at a cross early in the second half but redeemed himself in the dying seconds

Godfrey - 9 - my MOTM, some talent this kid

Holgate - 8 - continued where he left off in the last game, love his composure on the ball

Keane - 8 - just did his thing as usual

Mina - 8 - poor headed clearance which led to the penalty, but defended well otherwise and took his goal brilliantly

Davies - 7 - thought his all round play was good but disappeared in the second half and gave away a soft penalty

Doucoure - 6 - as with Davies, started on fire but drifted out the game

Sigurdsson - 7 - not bad, not great, extra point for the assist

Iwobi - 7 - another good performance from Iwobinho, notched an assist and was lively throughout

Richarlison - 6 - not his best game today but worked hard regardless

Calvert-Lewin - 8 - absolutely bullied the Arsenal defenders, they couldn't get near him

Coleman - N/A - not on long enough

Kenny - N/A - not on long enough

Tosun - N/A - not on long enough