Everton 3-0 Arsenal (2014): How the Gunners were given humbling top-four wake-up call

Everton and Arsenal meet in the Premier League on Sunday and their fortunes could hardly be any more different.

The Toffees have cheated the death of relegation for two successive seasons and will do well to avoid the drop this term. The Gunners, meanwhile, are expected to challenge for the title again.

Wind the clock back a decade and these two sides were on far more equal footing. Their clash at Goodison Park late in the 2013/14 season was a six-pointer for a top-four spot.

Roberto Martinez had quickly overseen a revolution on Merseyside. 'The School of Science is on its way back', the chant went. If they beat fourth-placed Arsenal in April 2014, then Champions League qualification was in their own hands.

Here's what happened on that day and beyond.

Match report

Arsenal lost control of their top-four destiny after falling to a heavy 3-0 defeat at Everton.

The Toffees chalked up a sixth-successive win and moved a point behind the Gunners in the Premier League table, but crucially have played a game fewer than their fourth-placed visitors.

Everton went close to taking the lead with only 90 seconds on the clock when Leon Osman took in stride a quick throw-in and lashed a curving half-volley towards goal, only for it to swerve narrowly wide of the top corner.

The hosts were rewarded for their fast start with the opening goal 14 minutes in. Leighton's Baines' cleverly-disguised cross between Arsenal's centre-backs was met by Romelu Lukaku, whose shot was saved by the feet of Wojciech Szczesny, but Steven Naismith was quickest to react and tapped the rebound into a near-empty net.

Roberto Martinez's men continued to bombard the Arsenal penalty area with low crosses, with their midfielders pushing high into the box to cause chaos. Naismith came close to a second of the afternoon when a driven delivery from Seamus Coleman cannoned off his foot, but he couldn't react quick enough to divert it away from the grateful grasp of Szczesny on his line.

Down the other end, Olivier Giroud spurned a chance to level the scores when he raced onto Santi Cazorla's whipped ball into the box, but his deft flick sailed into the Gwladys Street End.

Szczesny came to Arsenal's rescue twice in quick succession around the half-hour mark, first knocking away a dangerous cross from Ross Barkley before saving Kevin Mirallas' wicked strike towards the near post.

But the Poland goalkeeper was powerless to stop Everton doubling their lead minutes later. Mikel Arteta lost control of a cross-field pass from Barkley which allowed Mirallas and Naismith to swarm him and shift the ball over to Lukaku, who now had plenty of room ahead of him to sprint into. The young Belgian cut inside Nacho Monreal and Thomas Vermaelen to fire into the bottom corner.

Arsenal began the second half looking to beat Everton at their own game, packing the box and delivering a flurry of crosses, but they were unsuccessful in finding a way through or creating any serious trouble.

The closest the visitors came to pulling one back came when Mirallas tried to dribble out of danger in his own box and lost possession to Giroud, but Tim Howard was quick off his line to smother the striker and Everton survived.

On the hour mark, Everton grabbed their third goal. Mirallas stole the ball off a dawdling Bacary Sagna and sprinted into the vacated space down that flank. His pass beyond the Arsenal backline and into Naismith with met by Szczesny, but the goalkeeper lost the ball in the challenge, and Arteta was forced into an own goal while attempting to block the run of Mirallas.

Barkley came close to adding a fourth with a similarly sweeping counter attack, though his shot from the edge of the box was denied by Szczesny.

Substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain saw a thunderous strike bounce back off the crossbar thanks to a fingertip save from Howard late on.

Fellow replacement Yaya Sanogo had the ball in the net in stoppage time but his strike was wrongly ruled out for offside. Nevertheless, Everton were better from start to finish and were deserving of victory.

Everton player ratings (4-3-3)

GK: Tim Howard - 6/10 - Hardly troubled but was reliable in the rare instances he was called upon.

RB: Seamus Coleman - 6/10 - Surprisingly quiet in attack bar a few cases of showboating, but was solid at the back.

CB: John Stones - 7/10 - Adventurous and brave with possession, though sometimes to the detriment of his team when he did give away the ball. Nevertheless, this was a solid performance on and off the ball.

CB: Sylvain Distin - 7/10 - More robust in his defensive methods than Stones, but equally as effective.

LB: Leighton Baines - 8/10 - Carved Arsenal open with his precision crossing and passing, while he was easily able to stop their assortment of right-sided threats.

DM: Gareth Barry - 8/10 - Patrolled the midfield with confidence, sweeping up possession and quickly moving the ball on.

CM: James McCarthy - 7/10 - Buzzed about the pitch full of energy and vigour. Wasn't afraid to get stuck in or sprint from one box to the other.

CM: Leon Osman - N/A - Forced off with an eye injury in the opening exchanges.

RW: Romelu Lukaku - 9/10 - Fulfilled every expectation set of him in an unfamiliar role. Tore apart Monreal and Vermaelen with his physicality and quick feet, punishing Arsenal with a superbly-taken goal.

CF: Steven Naismith - 9/10 - The chief disruptor. Dropped into midfield and the channels, confusing Arsenal's defenders and allowing his attacking co-stars to exploit the space left wide open.

LW: Kevin Mirallas - 7/10 - Tried to claim the third goal as his own and while it didn't belong to him, the Belgian proved a menace with his direct threat.

Substitutes

SUB: Ross Barkley (9' for Osman) - 6/10 - Sometimes guilty of holding onto the ball too long or over-hitting passes but overall a decent midfield performance against quality, technical opposition.

SUB: Aiden McGeady (81' for Naismith) - N/A

SUB: Gerard Deulofeu (86' for Lukaku) - N/A

Subs not used: Robles (GK), Hibbert, Garbutt, Alcaraz

Manager

Roberto Martinez - 9/10 - His decision to switch Lukaku and Naismith's positions completely changed the game and helped earn Everton a huge win.

Arsenal player ratings (4-3-3)

GK: Wojciech Szczesny - 6/10 - Kept the score down and prevented Arsenal from reaching total oblivion.

RB: Bacary Sagna - 3/10 - Caught out both with and without the ball, notably leading to Everton's third goal.

CB: Per Mertesacker - 5/10 - Managed not to be purely beaten by the pace of the game unlike some of his teammates, though did little to help stem the tide either and was pulled around by Naismith's runs.

CB: Thomas Vermaelen - 5/10 - Threw himself, wisely or not, into challenges in the cauldron Goodison Park atmosphere but was also confounded with how to deal with Naismith in the false nine role.

LB: Nacho Monreal - 4/10 - Flattened by the mismatch of his duels with Lukaku. Failed to provide attacking threat too.

DM: Mikel Arteta - 2/10 - Repeatedly overrun and harried out of possession, with the clinching own goal summing up his rough return to Merseyside.

CM: Santi Cazorla - 4/10 - Began the match high and wide on the right but moved deeper and more central in order to get on the ball. Was ineffective wherever he played, however, and Everton were able to feast upon these switches with quick breakaways.

CM: Mathieu Flamini - 4/10 - Brought much-needed bite to the midfield battle. Unfortunately for Arsenal, that was all he provided.

RW: Tomas Rosicky - 4/10 - Often alternated occupying the right-wing spot with Cazorla. Again, this proved a pointless exercise.

CF: Olivier Giroud - 5/10 - Worked hard for the team and dropped deep to try and help out a losing battle, but his efforts were in vain and he didn't provide much threat in the box.

LW: Lukas Podolski - 4/10 - Flashed a couple of shots wide at 0-0, but that was the end of his meaningful involvement in the match.

Substitutes

SUB: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (66' for Podolski) - 6/10

SUB: Aaron Ramsey (66' for Flamini) - 6/10

SUB: Yaya Sanogo (71' for Giroud) - 6/10

Subs not used: Viviano (GK), Jenkinson, Kallstrom, Bellerin

Manager

Arsene Wenger - 4/10 - Arsenal were second-best in every area and that has to fall to the coach one way or another.

Player of the match - Steven Naismith (Everton)

How the table looked

Talking points

Arsenal collapsed on travels again

Arsenal were often harshly criticised for their lack of steel or physical presence during their early years at the Emirates Stadium. It became a bit too easy just to put their failings down to such deficiencies.

But 2013/14 was a season where these criticisms proved true. Football was moving away from an era of purely technical players and into an age of pressing, one which the Gunners had resisted.

The blockbuster signing of Mesut Ozil helped raise the levels of a downward-trending team and propelled them into an early title challenge, only for that to fall flat.

Arsenal lost 6-3 away at Manchester City, 5-1 at Liverpool and then 6-0 at Chelsea in this season alone.

Perhaps the most relevant talking point from an Arsenal perspective in the modern day is how poorly current manager Mikel Arteta played. Then a seasoned veteran of the midfield, he was sounded out as a weak link when trying to deal with the press, and Everton swarmed him whenever they could.

Everton's false dawn

After 11 years under David Moyes, Everton entered the 2013/14 season with Roberto Martinez at the helm. Fresh off his FA Cup success with Wigan Athletic, he promised chairman Bill Kenwright that he would guide the Toffees into the Champions League.

This win saw Everton take control of that destiny, and it was a match which showcased why they would have been worthy of a top-four finish. They beat Arsenal all over the pitch by means of duels or cunningness, while Martinez's tactical nous was on full display with how Steven Naismith and Romelu Lukaku changed starting places.

At the time, they were expected to take the top-four race to the wire, though they eventually fell short.

Best players on the day

• Steven Naismith, the perfect false nine. The Scot pulled Arsenal to-and-fro with his clever off-ball runs, allowing his Belgian flankers to exploit the space in behind.

• One of those wide-men, Romelu Lukaku, took full advantage of Naismith's selflessness, feasting on Arsenal in transition, striking more and more fear into their defenders the longer the match went on.

• Fantasy Premier League managers loved Leighton Baines. He didn't score or get an assist here, but his attacking contributions were impossible to ignore.

• Gareth Barry is one of the Premier League's most under-appreciated players of all time. You can't even really say he's underrated because at no point has that argument ever flipped back on itself to make him overrated.

Iconic quotes

• Arsene Wenger: "Was there a lack of fight? You could say that. It is a massive worry to lose a game like that."

• Roberto Martinez: "What is important, when you are a team, you have to have an aim [to reach the Champions League]."

• Arsene Wenger: "Our big-team defeats away from home have taken something of our charisma from the team. Is that belief? Is it fear? Is it confidence?"

Forgotten tidbits

• Kim Kallstrom, an unused substitute here, joined Arsenal on loan during the January window, but arrived with a back injury and made just four appearances.

• Three of Everton's key performers from this season - Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry and Gerard Deulofeu - were loan signings. All of them would sign for the club permanent at some point.

What happened next?

• Arsenal managed to hold off Everton and finish the season in fourth. They ended with 79 points - the most ever for a Premier League side that placed outside the top three. This was the third season in a row that Arsene Wenger's men rallied late in the season to secure Champions League football.

• The Gunners also went on to end their nine-year trophy drought and win the FA Cup. They knocked out the Toffees on their way to glory.

• Everton lost three of their next five games as their top-four charge fell apart. They ended the season in fifth on 72 points - which still stands as a club-record in the three-point era.

• Romelu Lukaku surprisingly signed for Everton from Chelsea on a permanent transfer at the end of the season. The Toffees, at the time known as being one of the Premier League's more cash-strapped sides, spent a then-club record £28m on the striker.

• Gareth Barry was one of four senior West Bromwich Albion players that were forced to apologise for an alleged taxi theft in 2018. That's not really relevant to this match but it's just quite funny.

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