Everton burst into life after beating Arsenal 1-0

Everton have remembered how to win. The Sean Dyche era started in victorious fashion as two Burnley old boys combined to lift the mood around Goodison Park and inflict only a second league defeat of the season on leaders Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s title contenders were easily subdued by a classic case of new manager bounce.

James Tarkowski headed home a Dwight McNeil corner to give their former Burnley manager the perfect start in his attempt to preserve Everton’s Premier League status. Without a league win since October, Everton put in a prodigious shift to stifle an Arsenal team unbeaten in 14 league games and end their own sorry run of results.

Amadou Onana and Abdoulaye Doucouré, superb throughout, sunk to their knees on the final whistle out of pure relief and exhaustion. Dyche had questioned whether Everton still knew how to win during Burnley’s victory over Frank Lampard’s team last season. Those doubts have been banished on day one.

The transformation in Everton was immediately apparent. Dyche had preached the merits of hard graft and organisation throughout his first five days on the training ground. The work, while crammed in, paid off in a relentless performance that made life uncomfortable for the league leaders and could have brought the much-needed boost to morale of an interval lead.

Arsenal dominated possession early on and created clear openings for Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka, who had a goalbound volley cleared off the line by Conor Coady, but faced a severe test of their composure and ability to break down a deep, resolute opponent.

Dyche received a warm ovation inside Goodison before kick-off and got what he asked for not only from his new players. The fans, having staged a peaceful protest against the board before the game, parked their grievances against the club as requested and were fully behind the team’s tireless efforts.

The Everton board were again absent having been instructed to stay away by their own security advisers. It was a wise decision. They have become too much of a distraction, as well as a liability, to the all-consuming task of remaining in the league.

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