Trossard's touch of class ends Arsenal's Goodison anguish
EVERTON 0 ARSENAL 1
LEANDRO Trossard, with just the second Premier League goal of his Arsenal career, maintained his team’s strong start to the season with their first Goodison victory since 2017.
A run of four defeats and a draw at Everton was ended by a second half goal that brought Mikel Arteta’s side a hard-earned three points and Trossard his first goal for the club since February.
Arsenal thought they had the game under control after 20 minutes, following a dominant start to the game, and “goal” from Gabriel Martinelli.
The Brazilian forward finished well from a counter-attack at which Eddie Nketiah was clearly offside, with VAR ruling that a touch from Everton forward Beto had been non-deliberate, and thus had not played the Arsenal man on-side.
That disputed decision could have proved costly for Arsenal, as they look to keep pace with leaders Manchester City, until Trossard struck on 69 minutes.
The well-worked goal stemmed from a Bukayo Saka corner and featured contributions from Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard before the ball was returned to Saka.
The England winger pulled the ball back for Trossard, unmarked in the area, and the Belgian finished brilliantly left-footed, in off the inside of the post.
It was no more than the Gunners deserved although they might have been more clinical in dealing with a struggling Everton side still looking for their first win and first home points of the season.
Arteta handed a first start to goalkeeper David Raya, benching England keeper Aaron Ramsdale, although there was little to worry the on-loan Brentford man.
Instead, and predictably in the circumstances, it was Everton who were left to fight a furious rearguard action for the vast majority of the contest.
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