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2024/25 English Premier League
Matchday 16
Arsenal v Everton
Emirates Stadium
London, England
Saturday, 14 December 2024
Kick-off is at 17h00
Arsenal will look to stay in touch with the
Premier League frontrunners when they welcome Everton to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, December 14.
The Gunners weren't able to keep pace with high-flying Chelsea after being held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham at Craven Cottage on December 8 which saw the Blues open up a two-point gap in second place.
Mikel Arteta's side trail Liverpool by six points, with the league leaders not in action on matchday 15 after the Merseyside derby was postponed due to bad weather.
Manchester City remain in fourth position as they dropped yet more points in a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace and are two behind the North Londoners, who extended their unbeaten run to five matches with the stalemate against the Cottagers.
The Toffees gave the perfect response to their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United on December 1 as they routed Wolves 4-0 at Goodison Park three days later.
A third victory of the season lifted Sean Dyche's side up to 14th spot, five points clear of the relegation zone, although Leicester (15th) went level with them after playing out to a 2-2 draw with Brighton on December 8.
The hosts have a handful of injuries to contend with as Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Riccardo Calafiori (all knee), Gabriel and Oleksandr Zinchenko remain unavailable for selection.
Michael Keane (knee) and Youssef Chermiti could come back into contention for the visitors, but the trip to London comes too soon for James Garner (back) and Tim Iroegbunam (ankle).
Arteta felt the Fulham game was a missed opportunity for his team to put pressure on the Reds ahead of an intense festive schedule.
"We really wanted it. We have good momentum and it was a really crucial moment for us to go for it. We certainly did. We certainly tried and we were so close to doing it. Unfortunately we didn't manage to achieve it," the Spaniard said.
Dyche praised the performance of his players against the Old Gold to secure their biggest home win since April 2019 and was pleased to see them cut out the mistakes that proved so costly at United.
"It was an important game, they all are. I don't change my tune just because we've won - they all are important games," he told evertontv.
"I think the feel of the performance was right. I think [it was a] good reaction from the weekend. I said on the weekend I wasn't disappointed with a lot of the performance but you can't make those mistakes.
"[Tonight] we haven't made mistakes and I thought we've had that real intent and desire to score goals. We mixed our performance and played well."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Arsenal wins - 4
Everton wins - 1
Draws - 0
Premier League Matchday 16 fixtures:
Saturday, December 14
17h00: Arsenal v Everton
17h00: Liverpool v Fulham
17h00: Newcastle United v Leicester City
17h00: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Ipswich Town
19h30: Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
Sunday, December 15
16h00: Brighton & Hove Albion v Crystal Palace
18h30: Manchester City v Manchester United
21h00: Chelsea v Brentford
21h00: Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur
Monday, December 16
22h00: Bournemouth v West Ham United
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