Everton vs Arsenal match report: Ashley Williams' late header dents Gunners title hopes in pulsating clash

Everton 2 Arsenal 1: The Toffees showed immense resilience and passion to fight back after falling behind early on in the game

Ashley Williams celebrates his late winner at Goodison Park (EPA)

If Arsenal are to shed their reputation for being flaky when it really comes to it and truly convince there is a chance of ending their twelve year wait for a title, they could do with coming to places like Goodison Park and achieving a result.

This was a night that began with questions being asked about Everton’s direction under Ronald Koeman. It was one that ended with the focus on Arsenal’s deficiencies, as they missed out on the opportunity of dislodging Chelsea at the summit of the Premier League table.

Twice, deliveries from wide positions were flung into Arsenal’s box and twice Arsenal’s defence vanished under the pressure. Ashley Williams’s winning goal came in front of the Gwladys Street from Ross Barkley’s corner with five minutes remaining. Arsenal were so desperate by the end – maybe even out of ideas – that Petr Cech was going up to try and meet set-pieces.

Alexis Sanchez celebrates opening the score for Arsenal (Reuters)

The defeat means Arsenal’s 14 match unbeaten run ends. They could not find a way past an Everton team whose record of just one victory in 10 games explained the mood at Goodison for much of the first half until crunching tackles were made, jolting Arsenal’s comfort.

The day had begun with Michael Ball, Everton’s former left back, criticising Koeman in his Liverpool Echo column, accusing him of being too negative. "He needs to show some passion and make the most of what he has," Ball wrote.

While Arsenal’s opening goal was not very Arsenal at all, in this form its manner seemed like the natural thing for Everton to do.

Seamus Coleman heads in Everton's equaliser (AFP)

Where to start? Undoubtedly, Enner Valencia - whose selection on the wing perhaps advertised what Koeman really thinks of the three wingers sitting on the bench - should not have chosen to dribble with the ball across his own box in a diagonal motion. Undoubtedly, Barkley’s subsequent control should have been better. In trying to stop Francis Coquelin, Williams could have been sent off for the studs down the shins tackle that followed had he not missed the Arsenal midfielder completely, connecting with Idrissa Gueye by accident. Phil Jagielka sensed the danger but hoofed Coquelin in the air and from Alexis Sánchez’s free kick – not one Roberto Carlos would be jealous of – Williams creaked out a leg, sending the ball spinning. Maarten Stekelenburg might still have saved it but his dive would be better described as a collapse. His fall was like witnessing the harpooning of a mammal.

It needed a challenge of considerable force to change the flow because Arsenal had settled easily. Barkley had so much to prove having been left out by Koeman in Everton’s last two games. He and James McCarthy went hunting and Mesut Ozil tumbled on separate occasions. Goodison was encouraged by that but did not start to believe until Everton’s equaliser came along; a combination of both full-backs powering forward and Leighton Baines supplying Seamus Coleman with the cross to head in.

Coleman's reaction was not a celebration and more of an outpouring of frustration. The sight of him cupping his ears at the Park End and then the main stand before ragging at the collar of his shirt as he trudged back to the half way line reflected what the atmosphere had been like.

The first half concluded with Everton’s players at their most belligerent and Goodison roaring at the sight of Duncan Ferguson involving himself in a confrontation between Granit Xhaka and Williams as they headed into the tunnel. The flashpoint had started with words said between McCarthy and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain moments before the former thundered into an aerial challenge with Ozil.

Lukaku and Koscielny vie for the ball (Reuters)

There was a sense Everton could have done without the break happening at all. They were running harder and making it uncomfortable for Arsenal, whose resistance eventually wilted. Williams’s header may have ripped the net, he connected so well with it.

Though Phil Jagielka was sent off and will miss next Monday's Merseyside derby amidst a sensational injury time period, which included two goal-line clearances by Everton defenders, Arsenal could not find a way back and Chelsea remain where they are.

Everton (4-1-4-1): Stekelenburg; Coleman, Jagielka, Williams, Baines; Gueye; Valencia, McCarthy, Barkley, Lennon; Lukaku. Subs: Robles, Deulofeu, Mirallas, Cleverley, Funes Mori, Calvert-Lewin, Holgate.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Cech; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Xhaka, Coquelin; Walcott, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Sanchez. Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Perez, Giroud, Holding, Iwobi, Elneny.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg.