The first four places are still in our hands – Emery

Phil Jagielka, scored in Everton's starting lineup at the last minute, scored the only goal of the match, Arsenal expanding his miserable record. only club in the first four divisions of English football not to have kept a laundering on their travels this season. But Arsenal boss Emery, while conceding that his team had played badly, tried to stay positive at the end of the match at Goodison Park.

"I think in general we're fine, I do not think so." 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 that result, I think the same way.After this result, we can be negative because it's three points lost, but it's in our handsif we continue to take risks and opportunities, to be among the top four. "

Everton had already threatened Lucas Digne, before the back made the decisive shot that led Jagielka to open the scoring at 10 minutes. Jagielka himself threw the ball to allow Dominic Calvert-Lewin to score a goal that would have allowed the ball to rebound well, falling under the foot of the unmarked defender who was shooting close range. There were Arsenal calls for offside, and the television footage seemed to show that Digne's foot could have been above the line making his very important throw.

But that was certainly a dramatic intervention by Jagielka, who had been called to the team only a few minutes before the kickoff, when Michael Keane finally succumbed to a virus that made him doubtful.

– Altercation –

Jagielka, 36, had a difficult season at Goodison, with a series of knee problems limiting him to three starts, but his impact on that occasion could not have been bigger, nor much faster. It was also the first goal of the former English international since April 2017, becoming the oldest player to have scored in the Premier League this season. Victory also meant that Everton had beaten a "big six" team for a second consecutive home game, not having won against any of these teams in the previous 25 attempts.

But the post-match badysis focused more on the poor performance of Arsenal, a performance that only marginally improved when Emery recruited Aaron Ramsey and Pierre -Emerick Aubameyang. The duo led to an improvement in the attack, with the center of the latter in the 48th minute producing a weak punch from Jordan Pickford on which Ramsey opened the scoring to 12 yards. But, defensively, Arsenal was even worse after the resumption. Everton should really have doubled his lead by 73 minutes when Gylfi Sigurdsson's shot was shot down by Sokratis and Richarlison cut the rebound well off.

The pressure seemed to have negative effects on Emery, involved in a violent verbal altercation with Marco Silva, boss of Everton eight minutes from the end when Shkodran Mustafi was held for a foul on Richarlison while he escaped, in front of the technical surface.

"He arrived late, but I think it was a yellow card, "said Emery. I was talking and he (Silva) entered my space and sat down on the bench and explained something to me. But that was not a problem. "