Arsenal reclaimed top spot in the Premier League and ensured they will be Christmas number one after a narrow 1-0 victory over Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but they had Viktor Gyokeres and the video assistant referee to thank for escaping Merseyside with three points. The striker's first-half penalty, awarded after Jake O'Brien's inexplicable handball from a Declan Rice corner, proved the only goal of a contest that mixed long spells of Arsenal control with moments of controversy and late anxiety.
Everton, depleted by injuries and Africa Cup of Nations absences, struggled badly in attack and failed to register a shot in a first half dominated by Mikel Arteta's side. Yet David Moyes and the home crowd were left simmering at full-time, convinced that at least one major decision should have gone their way after William Saliba's kick on Thierno Barry's leg was deemed not enough for a penalty and Martin Zubimendi avoided harsher punishment for a foul on the same player. By the time Jack Grealish was fouled in the sixth minute of added time, giving James Garner one last chance to send a free-kick into the box, the match had become a fraught test of Arsenal's nerve rather than their fluency.
O'Brien's handball gifts Gyokeres the breakthrough
It was a tricky night for Arsenal to begin with. The visitors looked uncomfortable in the opening 15 minutes as Everton, roared on by a raucous crowd and a pre-match light show, fireworks and a huge tifo in the South Stand, pressed energetically. Moyes had clearly instructed Tim Iroegbunam and Garner to get tight to Rice and Martin Odegaard, while Jack Grealish tried to find pockets of space. For a while, the league leaders struggled to settle, and Riccardo Calafiori stepping in from left-back to create an extra midfielder was as much about calming the tempo as it was about building attacks.