Tactics Talk: Everton vs Arsenal

Lineups:

Everton (4-4-2): Howard, Baines, Stones, Distin, Coleman, Barry, Mirallas, Osman, McCarthy, Naismith, Lukaku

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szchesny, Monreal, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Sagna, Arteta, Flamini, Cazorla, Podolski, Rosicky, Giroud

This season has seen the resurgence of Merseyside, and both sides see themselves fighting for very different prizes, but ultimately both are in the same position. While Liverpool are the underdogs in the title race, with Brendan Rodgers claiming the pressure is off his side, Everton and Roberto Martinez are in the same situation, just swap the title for the Champions League. The recent run of 6 successive wins for the Toffees indicates that they are not unrealistically aiming at Arsenal's 4th spot, being only 4 points behind the Gunners at kick off with a game in hand.

This game was enormous for Arsenal. A win would keep their faint hopes of the title alive, while a draw would end those hopes. A defeat, however, would hand Everton an enormous boost and put Arsenal in danger of dropping out of the top 4 for the first time under Arsene Wenger's leadership. Despite a mound of injuries for Arsenal, both sides fielded as strong a side as they could.

The opening moments of the game saw the usual sparring, with neither side willing to take the initial risk. Leon Osman flashed a speculative volley wide, whilst Podolski wasted a reasonable chance at the other end. In the beginning exchanges, Arsenal were maintaining possession well, but failed to break through a stubborn Evertonian defence, with Stones and Distin holding the line well. Everton were forced into an early change, with Leon Osman being replaced by Ross Barkley after being caught in the face by a boot in a challenge. This was generally considered an attacking change, forcing Everton forward and just beginning to frustrate Arsenal.

After that tetchy start, Everton hit the front. A quick break away after a dangerous Arsenal attack left Leighton Baines marauding on the left side. A brilliant ball into Romelu Lukaku left the Belgian with a chance to get a shot away, forcing a save from Szchesny. However, Everton got fortunate with the rebound, falling to the clinical Steven Naismith, who tucked it into the far corner. With Baines and Coleman frequently terrorising the two Arsenal full backs, it came as little surprise that the goal came from this. However, despite this tactic clearly working, Arsenal failed to replicate this, opting instead to try and break down the middle, with Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky the primary playmakers. However, this tactic never really came close to working, and the Arsenal defence continued to fail to understand the threat that the Everton wing-backs continued to pose, with Arsenal opting to remain fairly narrow to combat the threat of Barkley.

First half hour: Tactically, Arsenal looked inept, and Everton looked the more threatening, and looked likely to add to their deserved lead.

And so this proved. After a period of Arsenal pressure that once again yielded nothing, Everton struck on the break. With Lukaku drifting out wide, Nacho Monreal couldn't deal with the power of the Belgian, failing to show him down the line and allowing him to drift inside to fire beyond the goalkeeper. A critical goal and a hammer blow ten minutes before the break, Everton now held a strong position, which Arsenal would need to respond. But once again, they had no answer. Everton seemed more than happy, and more than comfortable to sit back and protect their lead to the break - and they did it comfortably.

Arsene Wenger would have needed to say something special to his team at half time or make some substantial changes. As the teams came out after the interval, it would have to have been the former, as each of the 11 that started the game continued. Initially, Arsenal looked marginally more threatening, with Wenger clearly telling them to target the wings, a tactic that had been so successful for Everton during the first period. A couple of individual errors by Everton gave them cause for concern, but once again they dealt fairly well with the Arsenal threat. As such, the game began to settle down as the hour mark approached. However, almost bang on the hour, the game was over. An error in the Arsenal midfield enabled Everton to threaten down the wing again, and the cross was eventually turned in by Mikel Arteta, of all people the ex-Everton man, under pressure by Kevin Mirallas.

Second half hour: Two goals and the game over with half an hour to go, Everton have outplayed Arsenal in every department.

Finally the sub arrived, but with far too much to do in far too little time. Podolski and Flamini were withdrawn in favour of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ramsey. For Arsenal fans, it is great news to see Aaron Ramsey back on a football pitch, as he was one of the most illuminating players of the first half of the season, and it is no coincidence that his injury came at the same time as Arsenal's downturn in form, coupled with the absence of Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil. In a final substitution, Arsene Wenger brought off the ineffective Olivier Giroud, who just hasn't lived up to expectations this season, for another disappointing striker, Yaya Sanogo.

By this point in the game, Everton knew they had the win under control, and were playing neat 'ole' football, giving their fans plenty to cheer. After excellent performances, Naismith and Lukaku were rested, with Aiden McGeady and Gerard Deulofeu coming on for the final 10 minutes. Other than Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain demonstrating how he could have affected the game, smashing a 25 yard shot off the face of the bar, there was little of interest. An injury time scuffle between Ross Barkley and Mikel Arteta, in which the Arsenal man received a yellow card, compounded the misery of the Gunners, who will now be looking anxiously over their shoulders.

Final half hour: No-one did anything of note in the final half hour, but by then, the game was well and truly beyond Arsenal, with Everton the clear and deserved winners.

This result shuts one door for Arsenal, and opens another extremely worrying one. This is an emphatic indication of the confidence of the two teams at present, which doe not bode well for the Gunners, who on paper have the easier run in. However, if Everton perform to the same level against the two Manchester clubs at Goodison, I do not see any reason why they can't pick up valuable points. The race for 4th is very much on, and it would come as no surprise to me if Everton break the 15 year hold on the Champions League enjoyed by Wenger and Arsenal.

Tactics Talk: Chelsea vs Stoke City

Lineups:

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Lampard, Matic, Willian, Salah, Schurrle, Torres

Stoke City (4-4-2): Begovic, Pieters, Shawcross, Cameron, Wilson, N'Zonzi, Palacios, Whelan, Arnautovic, Odemwingie, Crouch

After a terrible week for the Blues, which saw them first shocked by Crystal Palace in the Premier League, before being emphatically beaten by Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League first leg. For my Tactics Talk on that game, click here. With Jose Mourinho having suggested that his side's chances of reclaiming the Premier League title is now over, the game against Stoke was the perfect opportunity for his side to reassert themselves. With Chelsea making four changes from the mid-week, players like Matic, Salah and Torres all had the chance to make their mark and earn a place in the side that needs to turn around the 3-1 deficit to PSG. However, with Mourinho leaving Hazard and Oscar on the bench, this represented a huge opportunity to upset Chelsea again.

The context is also important. There was an additional pressure on Chelsea from the fact that a few hours earlier, Manchester City had laid down the gauntlet to their title rivals, defeating Southampton 4-1. This added an extra layer to an already overloaded Chelsea, a pressure that many sides would fold under.

From the start, Chelsea were quick out of the blocks, using the pace of Andre Schurrle and Willian out wide to penetrate Stoke's defence. As expected, the Potters were playing deep and looking for opportunities to play on the counter. However, unlike the usual Stoke days, where long balls would just be lumped out of defence up to Peter Crouch, Mark Hughes's Stoke looked to play the ball out on the deck, with Marco Arnautovic the key component. But this just played into the hands of Chelsea, who were more skilled at knocking the ball around and could win it back far more easily. As such, this meant that they gained momentum, with quick passing opening opportunities for Torres and Salah. With neither of them taking their chances, Mourinho switched to using triangles in the middle to cut open the Stoke back line, with Lampard, Torres and Matic instrumental in carving out chances for Ivanovic and Willian. Put despite these chances, Chelsea still could not shift the Stoke bus firmly parked at the far side of the ground.

First half hour: Chelsea dominant, but they just couldn't find a way through.

However, that bus was moved almost immediately after. Poor tracking by Peter Odemwingie allowed Matic to get in behind the defence and cut a ball back. More bad marking allowed Mohamed Salah to ghost in at the back post to smash a first time shot past Asmir Begovic. With wave after wave of Blue attack headed toward the Stoke goal, the visitors needed to be careful not to capitulate. The individual errors from the Stoke players kept putting them under pressure but, with a bit of luck, they refused to crack. Only a brilliant bit of assistant refereeing meant that Stoke went into the break just one down, disallowing Branislav Ivanovic's goal for the slightest of offsides. Nevertheless, the game was still being played on the edge of Stoke's area, and they would need to rectify this if they were to get anything out of it.

Mark Hughes made two changes at half time to attempt to reinforce their defence, with Andy Wilkinson and Charlie Adam replacing Geoff Cameron and Wilson Palacios. The second half started largely where the first left off, with more relentless Chelsea pressure. But once again there was no immediate reward. Mourinho then rang the changes, replacing the hardworking but ultimately ineffective Schurrle with Eden Hazard - it certainly didn't get any easier for Stoke! The impact was almost instantaneous. With Hazard at full flow, a rash challenge from Wilkinson handed Lampard the chance to extend Chelsea's lead, perhaps guaranteeing the three points. Though the initial kick was well saved by Begovic, the Chelsea man got the benefit of a kind bounce, easily turning home the  rebound. With no obvious sign of a Stoke reposte, it seemed only a matter of how many before the final whistle went.

Second half hour: With Stoke offering little in attack and camped on the edge of their own area, there can be no doubt that this period belonged to Chelsea.

With the attempts standing at 16-1 in Chelsea's favour, Stoke finally looked at applying a bit of pressure, building up a couple of corners in quick succession. But this came far too late for Stoke, as by now the game was long since lost. This was proven just a couple of minutes later, when Willian cut inside after a slick Chelsea move to curl a delightful shot into the top corner. This rounded off an excellent and morale-boosting victory, setting them up nicely for a huge tie in mid-week against the Parisians. All that was left to do was rest Lampard and Willian in preparation, bringing on David Luiz and Ashley Cole in their place. For Stoke, Jon Walters replaced the anonymous Peter Crouch, who up until that point had probably had about 10 touches of the ball, with the majority of them coming in his own half! With Neil Swarbrick putting the whistle to his lips to end the game, Chelsea's miserable week came to a promising end.

Final half hour: Chelsea were totally in control from first whistle to last, giving themselves some much needed relief after a tough couple of weeks in all competitions. Next up, the return leg against PSG that may just rebuild or break their season...