In the matchday 22 game, Everton from the 19th line of the table took away the championship leaders, Arsenal, in what would not have been the most interesting event of the matchday recently, but after the dismissal of Frank Lampard and the appointment of Sean Dyche. , the party acquired new intrigues that captivated attention.
Even taking into account the new head coach, few believed in Everton’s victory, but it took place – 1:0. Moreover, the “Toffees” did not just sit defensively and wait for an accidental goal, but really turned out to be stronger than the leaders of the Premier League, who had previously lost only once in 22 rounds – in September against Manchester. United.
The defeat itself did not bring a shake-up at the top of the table, but now Arsenal have allowed Manchester City to within five points, in fact, the Gunners’ convenient and comfortable position has melted. But it is equally important to focus not even on Arsenal’s game, but on his psychological state, which by no means looks like a champion.
In the 95th minute, when Arsenal still had a theoretical chance of coming back, Oleksandr Zinchenko, instead of trying to organize an attack, charged at Nil Pope. Apparently, the Everton player hit the legs of the Ukrainian defender when trying to bring him down, which Oleksandr did not like, so he tried to respond with the same maneuver, but both fell to the grass. Zinchenko did not stop, he quickly jumped up and began to express to the lying opponent everything he thought about him and his team. The most unsportsmanlike behavior turned into a skirmish between the two teams, and it is even more surprising that Zinchenko received only one yellow card for blatant and excessive rudeness.
Arsenal fans are divided into two camps: one part praises Zinchenko for his demonstrated character, and the second part criticizes Alexander for an abnormal act. I think that Zinchenko had no right to behave this way, especially considering that he is called the leader of the “gunners”, and he himself does not hesitate to talk about himself in this format. Mikel Arteta’s favorite missed the game (a goal came from his zone and other chances arose), and in the end he gave free rein to emotions that seemed more like hysteria, which is not normal in a leading team against a club of base. table. With such actions, he killed the chances of equalizing the score.
The grade did not drop even after the final whistle, so Arteta had to personally remove Zinchenko from the field, who tried to speak to both the Everton players and the referees. Some may say that this is a small and insignificant moment, but I think that the instigator of the conflict showed the weakness of Arsenal, which can play a significant role in the Premier League title race.
