3 minute read

Arsenal suffered just their second Premier League defeat of the season after being edged out 1-0 by an inspired Everton side.

Sean Dyche marked his first match as Toffees boss by taking out the league leaders in front of a raucous Goodison Park.

James Tarkowski's 60th minute goal proved the decisive moment as Arsenal conceded momentum in the ongoing title race.

The Gunners are still five points clear at the top, and manager Mikel Arteta cut a calm figure in his post-match interview. 

Asked whether his players were feeling any pressure, the Spaniard said: "No, I don't think so, we've played a lot of games this season like that already.

"But credit to them, this is what they train every single day. You have to defend really well to get your control and earn the right to play. For moments we did it and in other moments we didn't do it well enough to dominate in the game.

"In the last 10 or 15 minutes, particularly after we made the changes, we started to give away a lot of free-kicks and a lot of rash decisions.

"Which is exactly what they want – slow the game down, do everything really long, play long into your line and don't play a lot. We haven't managed that well enough.

"I want the team to know how much I love them. I love them much more now than three hours ago, a week ago, a month ago, three months ago.

"It's very easy to be next to the players when they're winning and performing. These are the moments when I love my players more and my staff more and we're going to stay together.

"This journey is going to be difficult and challenging and there's going to be big stones in the middle and we have to overcome that. Now we have to prepare the week really well to get to Saturday with the right emotional spirit to beat Brentford."