Rearranged match provides chance of early revenge for Arsenal

Arsenal will begin next month with an early chance to exact revenge on Everton, after the Premier League confirmed the date of their previously postponed fixture as Wednesday 1st March.

In some ways, last Saturday’s reversal was less surprising than it may seem, given The Gunners have often slipped up at Goodison Park of late, and Everton were buoyed by the arrival of Sean Dyche as manager.

Fortunately for Mikel Arteta’s tabletoppers, their record against Everton at The Emirates is far better, winning eight of their last nine encounters there, and only losing when fans weren’t present due to COVID restrictions.

Gabriel Jesus is also expected to be available by March, with the Brazilian boasting an excellent scoring record against The Blues, stretching back to his days at Manchester City.

In the meantime, Arsenal need to get back to winning ways against Brentford, before what will no doubt be built up as an early title decider against Man City a few days later. They’ll know that City’s squad is better equipped and more accustomed to coping with the end of season run-in, when the pressure cranks up and the matches come thick and fast, so three points at home to Brentford are imperative.

It is unlikely that off the field issues will affect The Citizens too much, even if the spectre of being expelled and removed as one of the Premier League previous winners continues to loom large by that point.