Just as Everton were beginning to look like a competent outfit they produced a performance that will give Sean Dyche nightmares.
The new Blues boss would have known his side was capable of imploding. He would have done his homework upon taking the job. He would have seen, or at least analysed, the debris from the complete collapses against Bournemouth and Brighton, or the moments of incompetence or signs of toothlessness that led to damaging defeats to Wolves, West Ham and Southampton.
But, deep down, he may not have believed such outrageous calamity could happen on his watch. And many supporters would have felt the same. Over the course of a month Dyche has improved this fragile side. He has brought organisation, and fight, and resilience, and those qualities have made Everton competitive. Competitive enough to gain morale-boosting wins over Arsenal and Leeds United at Goodison Park and to have shown, in the defeat to Aston Villa, signs that this team is simply a goalscorer away from being a genuinely effective outlet. Before now, the defeat at Anfield was the only blot of his reign and the Blues specialise in finding ways to snatch defeat on the other side of Stanley Park. At the Emirates, though, Dyche was forced to watch his side crumble as the taunts of “Ole” and “you’re going down” sounded out around him.
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It had started so well and that makes this 4-0 defeat and the display that accompanied it all the more frustrating - and worrying. Then a piece of wonderful skill and another moment of chaos undermined everything and the travelling Evertonians - forced to endure so much misery over the past two seasons - were once again suffering in an away end. After four weeks in charge the question for Dyche and this season is not whether he can make this Everton team competitive. He has shown he can. The question is whether this side, at its most competitive best, is actually capable of getting the results needed for survival. The more glimpses of progress shown by Dyche’s Blues, the more its limitations are glaringly exposed.
Wednesday night, like Saturday, could have been so different. This was not all bad. As the latest press, this time led by Neal Maupay and Abdoulaye Doucoure, forced Arsenal's defenders to play amongst themselves, the home crowd started to get restless. Put simply, the game plan was working. For 40 minutes Everton contained their hosts, drawing them to the edge of their own box then outmuscling their opponents before springing counter-attacks that carried threat until they reached the edge of Arsenal’s box and the lack of creativity and ruthlessness at Dyche’s disposal shone through. But with five minutes to go in the first half the statistics enforced the blueprint for the new boss’s survival plot. Possession and control may have been limited. But Everton had recorded two shots on target to the league leaders’ zero. Both from Maupay, they were the end product of endeavour as Alex Iwobi, Amadou Onana, Doucoure and Dwight McNeil surged forward to hunt a lead this side had already proven it could protect.
At the back, Everton were comfortable. Doucoure, Onana and Idrissa Gueye formed a protective buffer to the centre-backs who mopped up loose balls created by the disruption in front of them. On the right, Seamus Coleman was managing Gabriel Martinelli and on the left Vitalii Mykolenko marshalled Bukayo Saka with help from McNeil and Tarkowski. The Ukraine international had enjoyed more success against Saka than the other way around, skipping past the Arsenal number seven to cross late in the first half.
But just like against Villa, this Everton side was incapable of making the good moments count. Too often a break would stutter and stumble on the edge of the Gunners' box, running out of steam and ideas and lacking the spontaneity or genius to give Aaron Ramsdale a genuine scare.
This game changed with a moment of magic at the other end of the pitch. Arsenal fans growing impatient as half-time beckoned without a goal, Oleksandr Zinchenko drifted from left-back to the right of his team's central midfield and found space 35 yards from goal. A gorgeous through ball allowed Saka to exploit the space between Mykolenko and Tarkowski. His first touch gave Saka the time to pick his spot and he rifled into the roof of the net.
For all of the progress under Dyche - and the six valuable points - this team is yet to show him it can come from behind to salvage a result. In north London, they did not get that chance. As home fans streamed into the concourses, satisfied with having taken the lead, a shambolic moment proved fatal to any hopes for challenging Everton’s abysmal away record. Gueye, facing his own goal 25 yards out, lingered on the ball as if he thought referee Michael Oliver had halted the game. He had not. Saka, alert to the opportunity senselessly granted to him, poked the ball from Gueye’s feet and into the path of Martinelli, who rolled it beyond Pickford - the England number one as dumbfounded as anyone at the scene that had played out before him.
In the second half Dyche did what he has had little opportunity to do in his opening weeks on Merseyside - experiment. Mason Holgate replaced Gueye and took up a place in the centre of midfield. On the hour mark, Ben Godfrey took Coleman’s place at right-back, Demarai Gray was sent on for Maupay and Tom Davies later made his 150th Premier League appearance as he entered the fray for Doucoure. This game was over by half-time, though.
With the exception of a surge of momentum initially heralded by Gray’s arrival, leading to McNeil forcing Ramsdale into a good save, this was not about whether Everton could get back into the game. In reality it became a case of how many would Arsenal score. As Dyche rang the changes the solidity he had drilled into his team was sacrificed and the hosts picked Everton apart to the chastening chorus of “Ole” from the home stands.
Martin Odegaard drifted into the box to fire home a third before Martinelli did the same, again finishing while unmarked having escaped the attention of anyone tracking back. By the final 10 minutes the chants of “Ole’s” had turned to “You’re going down” while Dyche could do little but stand and watch his most difficult night as Everton manager play out around him. If he did not know the immense size of the task facing him. He does now.
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