Arsenal vs Everton Preview: Saka Out, Saliba Still Waiting, and an Everton Side That Has Not Won Away All Season
Arsenal come home from Munich with a draw, a place in the top two and an injury to the man who has scored more league goals for them than anyone else this season. Everton arrive in London eighth, unbeaten on their travels and yet to actually win one — all three league trips have finished level. Mikel Arteta has roughly two days to turn a squad around; David Moyes has had a full week on the training ground.
Two Days Against a Fortnight
The schedule is the first thing both managers will mention. Arsenal were in Germany on Wednesday night, drawing 2-2 with Bayern München in the Champions League as Eberechi Eze and Declan Rice scored, and they have been back on the grass twice since. Everton last played on Saturday, when two second-half Pedro Neto goals beat them 2-0 at home — their first defeat of the league campaign.
That European result was a good one on the whole: a point at the Allianz Arena, with two wins already banked in the competition after Lille were beaten 3-0 at home and Napoli were beaten 1-0 away. It also cost them Bukayo Saka. The winger went off in the first half with what Arteta described afterwards as not looking good, and with three league goals he is still Arsenal’s leading scorer in the Premier League this season. Christos Tzolis was already out with a muscle problem. So the two wide roles fall, in all likelihood, to Eze and Noni Madueke — the latter having come off the bench to win the game at Nottingham Forest with ten minutes left.
Arteta has been reported as considering as many as seven changes for this one. Arsenal are second on eighteen points from seven matches, three behind a Manchester City side that has won all seven of theirs, and the margin for resting people is thin. Six of those seven games have been won, the exception being a 3-0 defeat at Brighton in September, and they have conceded five goals in total — three of them in that one afternoon on the south coast.
Eight Goals, Four Draws and One Striker Doing It Alone
Everton are the division’s great levelers. Two wins, four draws, one defeat from seven matches; ten points; eighth. Eight goals scored, which their 9.43 expected goals suggests is more or less what the chances deserved, and seven conceded, which is the better half of the ledger. They have already taken points off Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, drawing 2-2 and 0-0 respectively, and they have done it with 47 per cent of the ball — the plan is not to have it, it is to be organised without it.
The problem is at the other end. They have been shut out twice in their last four league matches, at Tottenham and then at home by Chelsea, and in that Chelsea game they managed a single shot on target after half-time. Thierno Barry is their top scorer with three and is consistently getting into the right positions; he has also passed up six clear openings this season, which is the difference between eighth and the top six. Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are the outlets, and the route to goal is usually a quick pass into space rather than anything elaborate.
Moyes’s squad news is, for once, close to full. Vitalii Mykolenko came straight back into the side against Chelsea after injury, Christian Nørgaard has returned from a groin problem and Merlin Röhl is available again. Jarrad Branthwaite is expected to shrug off a clash of heads, and Michael Keane, who was left out entirely last weekend, is the one name with a question mark over it.
Head-to-Head: Two Wins in Thirty-Four Visits
| Date | Venue | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Mar 2026 | Everton away at Arsenal | Arsenal 2-0 Everton |
| 20 Dec 2025 | Arsenal away at Everton | Everton 0-1 Arsenal |
| 5 Apr 2025 | Arsenal away at Everton | Everton 1-1 Arsenal |
| 14 Dec 2024 | Everton away at Arsenal | Arsenal 0-0 Everton |
| 19 May 2024 | Everton away at Arsenal | Arsenal 2-1 Everton |
These clubs have met 68 times in the Premier League: Arsenal have won 40, Everton 12, and 16 have been drawn. At home to Everton, Arsenal’s record is 26 wins, 6 draws and 2 defeats from 34 — and Everton’s two victories on this ground came in January 1996 at Highbury and in April 2021 at the Emirates. Arsenal are unbeaten in the last seven meetings across all grounds, winning five, and have kept clean sheets in the last two. The biggest win in the fixture is Arsenal’s 7-0 in May 2005. A nice piece of calendar symmetry: on this exact date in 1992 the two clubs played each other in the Premier League for the very first time, Arsenal winning 2-0 at Highbury.
Three Things That Will Decide It
1. Whether Arsenal score early
Every part of Everton’s season says the same thing: if they are not behind, they are comfortable. Four of their seven league games have been drawn, they have yet to win away from home, and all three of their trips have finished level. Arteta said after the Forest win that his side knew the margins would stay small unless the game was opened up much earlier. If Arsenal spend seventy minutes in front of a settled block, this becomes the fourth of those draws.
2. Madueke and Eze without Saka
Saka is the joint-leading scorer and the most reliable source of a chance from a standing start. Replacing him is not one signing’s job but two men’s: Madueke, who has already won a match off the bench this season, and Eze, who scored in Munich on Wednesday. Mykolenko at left-back against Madueke is the individual contest to watch, and the Ukrainian has played ninety minutes exactly once since returning.
3. Barry against Gabriel
With William Saliba yet to feature this season because of a back problem, Gabriel Magalhães and Ezri Konsa have been the pair, and they have conceded twice in six league games that did not involve Brighton. Barry’s game is built on running the channel and attacking crosses, and with Everton likely to see around 45 per cent of the ball, he may get four or five of them. He has missed six big chances; he keeps getting them.
Expected Line-ups
Neither club had confirmed a starting eleven at the time of writing, and Arteta is reported to be weighing up to seven changes after Wednesday’s trip to Germany. The names below follow the most widely reported projected sides; treat both as provisional and check the team sheets about an hour before kick-off. Where reporting differs, it is noted underneath.
Arsenal
- GK David Raya
- DF Ben White, Ezri Konsa, Gabriel Magalhães, Riccardo Calafiori
- MF Declan Rice, Bruno Guimarães
- AM Noni Madueke, Martin Ødegaard, Eberechi Eze
- ST Kai Havertz
Out: Bukayo Saka (quadriceps, sustained against Bayern), Christos Tzolis (muscle), William Saliba (back, has not played this season). Doubtful: Piero Hincapié (ankle).
Everton
- GK Jordan Pickford
- DF Ainsley Maitland-Niles, James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitalii Mykolenko
- MF James Garner, Harrison Armstrong
- AM Johnson, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish
- ST Thierno Barry
Out or doubtful: Michael Keane (left out of the squad against Chelsea, uncertain). Returned and available: Mykolenko, Christian Nørgaard (groin), Merlin Röhl. Branthwaite is expected to be fine after a head clash.
Where reporting differs: on the Arsenal side, one projected eleven starts Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield instead of Guimarães and Viktor Gyökeres up front instead of Havertz, with another using a back four of Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel, Cristhian Mosquera and White. On the Everton side there is a split over right-back, with Jake O’Brien named by one source and Maitland-Niles by two, and over the right of the attacking three, where Merlin Röhl has been named by one source in place of Johnson. We have not picked a side in any of those arguments. Tony Harrington takes charge; last season he averaged three yellow cards and twenty fouls per game across eleven matches, and his first three appointments this season have produced four, zero and five cards.
Key Battles
Madueke against Mykolenko
A winger who changes games from the bench against a left-back who has only just come back into the team. Everton’s defensive record is built on protecting the middle of their box, which means the wide areas are where Arsenal will try to isolate people, and Mykolenko will not want to be defending one-v-one for ninety minutes in his second start in a month.
Rice and Guimarães against Garner and Armstrong
Arsenal will have around sixty per cent of the ball. What they do with it depends on how quickly Everton’s two holding players can shift across, and how often Garner and Armstrong can win it high enough to release Grealish before Arsenal’s rest defence has set. Everton’s whole season suggests they will not try to out-pass anyone.
Barry against Gabriel and Konsa
With Saliba still out, the centre of the Arsenal defence is a partnership rather than a settled pair, and Barry is the one Everton player whose movement has repeatedly got him in behind this season. The counterweight is his finishing: six big chances missed is the number that defines Everton’s season so far.
Kit Note: Arsenal and Everton
Arsenal’s rail runs from the 2026/27 home shirt through the Champions-edition home shirt, the away and third shirts, the goalkeeper shirt and the long-sleeved home shirt. Everton’s carries the new home shirt, the pro-version home shirt and the away shirt. Everything below is live in the shop and priced the same across every size of a given shirt.
Arsenal — the current home shirt, the Champions-edition home shirt, the away and third shirts, the goalkeeper shirt and the long-sleeved home shirt
Swipe to browse 6 Arsenal jerseys
Everton — the new 2026/27 home shirt, the pro-version home shirt and the away shirt
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