Unai Emery on Sunday said that Arsenal remain in control of the race for UEFA Champions League qualification after another disappointing away performance saw his side lose 1-0 at Everton.
Phil Jagielka, only drafted into Everton’s starting lineup at the last minute, scored the game’s only goal as Arsenal extended their wretched record as the only club in the top four divisions of English soccer not to have kept a clean sheet on their travels this season, but Arsenal boss Emery, while conceding his team had played badly, tried to remain positive in the aftermath at Goodison Park.
“I think generally we are well. I don’t think: ‘Today we lost and we are very bad.’ It was a bad result, not a good performance today, but we are fourth,” Emery said. “Before, I knew it was going to be difficult. After this result, I am thinking the same. After this result, we can be negative because it is three points lost, but it is in our hands, if we continue taking chances and opportunities, to be in the top four.”
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Everton had already threatened from one of Lucas Digne’s long throws before the fullback delivered the set-piece that led to Jagielka’s opening goal on 10 minutes.
His throw was flicked on by Jagielka for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to attempt a header on goal that saw the ball take a kindly bounce, falling to the unmarked defender who swept in from close-range.
There were Arsenal appeals for offside and TV footage seemed to show that Digne’s foot might have been over the line in the process of taking his all-important throw, but it was certainly a dramatic intervention from Jagielka, who had only be called into the team minutes before kickoff when Michael Keane finally succumbed to a virus that had rendered him a doubt.
Jagielka, 36, has had a difficult season at Goodison, with a series of knee problems limiting him to three starts, but his impact on this occasion could not have been greater, or much quicker.
It was also the former England international’s first goal since April 2017 as he became the oldest player to score in the English Premier League this season.
The victory also meant that Everton had beaten a “big six” side for a second consecutive home game, having failed to win against one of those teams in the previous 25 attempts.
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