In different circumstances, Mikel Arteta’s final trip to Goodison Park might have given some welcome narrative to a late-campaign game in a Premier League season fizzling out. After all, Everton, since re-appointing David Moyes, have pulled well clear of danger, while consecutive wins for Arsenal either side of the international break have eased fears they might yet be sucked back into the scrap for the top four.
Instead, though, the spectre of Real Madrid looms large, the Gunners now just three days away from a Champions League quarter-final that has become their biggest game of the season and hoping desperately to get there without further depreciation of his squad.
