Sean Dyche saw shades of Manchester City in Arsenal as Leandro Trossard’s stunner secured a hard-fought 1-0 Premier League win at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon.
So often the scene of an Arsenal collapse, the feeling as Leandro Trossard’s brilliant first-time finish clipped the post on the way past Jordan Pickford wasn’t just relief.
More an ‘exercising the ghosts of recent past’ moment for a Gunners’ side who found themselves on the wrong end of the most Dyche-ian of defeats back in February, and had not tasted victory in this particular part of the North West since Nacho Monreal, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil all found the net back in 2017.
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“I must say, that’s a very good side,” Dyche, gracious in defeat, told Yahoo Sport at full-time; unbeaten Arsenal staying within two points of Pep Guardiola’s pacesetters.
“Some say they haven’t started that well. But they’re an outfit that went second last year and spent a couple of hundred million quid. It’s not just with the ball, I always mention about Man City that they’re technically bright with the ball and work very hard and anticipate the game very well without the ball.
“And there were signs (that Arsenal can do the same).”
Seven months ago, Arsenal found themselves sucked into that famously febrile Goodison atmosphere, Dyche reducing a heavyweight puncher into a desperate brawler as James Tarkowski landed the knockout blow in the second half.
This Arsenal side, however, feel more mature. More controlled. Stronger and more resiliant for that devastating collapse in the final weeks of 2022/23.
A case in point; Arsenal dominated three-quarters of the possession during their first Goodison win in six years, restricting the hosts to just one shot on target in the process.
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“There were some pleasing aspects to the game against Arsenal,” Dyche argues. “I’m not going to just brush that away.
“(But) we want to do better for ourselves. With possession, we want to build from the back. There wasn’t any clear signs of that. If we’re not playing that well, we’ve got to play well in different ways and be affective in different ways.”
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