Arsenal Diselamatkan Gol Giroud Samakan Skor Everton
Giroud to the Rescue with Last-gasp Strike after Arsenal Looked Doomed
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
ARSENAL akhirnya mampu menyamakan kedudukan di babak kedua setelah sebelumnya tertinggal dua gol dari Everton di babak pertama.
Pada awal babak kedua, Arsenal langsung tancap gas dengan melakukan variasi serangan ke lini pertahanan Everton, seperti dilansir BBC.
Namun baru di menit ke 83, Aron Ramsey mampu mencetak gol ke gawang Everton yang dijaga Tim Howard setelah menerima umpan Santiago Cazorla yang menggantikan Wilshere di menit ke 74.
Enam menit kemudian atau di menit ke 89, Olivier Giroud mampu mencetak gol ke gawang Everton sekaligus menyamakan kedudukan. Giroud menerima assist dari Nacho Monreal melalui umpang silang dan mampu diselesaikan Giroud dengan tandukannya sehingga memaksa Tim Howard memungut bola untuk kedua kalinya.
Di babak kedua, Everton lebih banyak mengandalkan serangan balik cepat yang efektif namun sayang belum berhasil menambah gol.
Misalnya di menit ke 68, berawal dari serangan balik, assist yang diberikan Phil Jagielka kepada Lukaku yang menendang dengan kaki kirinya ke arah kanan gawang Szczesny namun gagal.
Sementara di babak kedua pertandingan berlangsung keras yang dibuktikan dengan dikeluarkannya kartu kuning oleh wasit Kevin Friend.
Misalnya di menit ke 53 Jack Wilshere menakel Gareth Barry yang menyebabkan Wilshere diganjar kartu kuning.
Tiga menit kemudian atau di menit ke 56 giliran Calum Chambers diganjar kartu kuning karena menakel Steven Naismith. Sementara itu di menit ke 76 Mathieu Flamini diganjar kartu kuning.
TWO goals in the last seven minutes by Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud denied Everton as Arsenal fought back to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
It appeared that the Toffees were to give the Gunners´ title aspirations an early-season reality check as they took charge of the game with first half goals from Seamus Coleman and Steven Naismith.
Just as on their last visit to Goodison Park, a 3-0 defeat in April, Arsenal were being out-fought and out-thought by Roberto Martinez´s side and looked set to suffer the consequences.
As impressive as Everton were with their slick passing and fluid moves going forward, it was far too easy for them to find a way through the Arsenal midfield and defence, and the Toffees were rarely troubled at the back.
It would have been a familiar sight for the travelling fans, who saw their side ship 20 goals as they lost heavily in all four of their away games against the other teams in the Premier League´s top five last season.
But that changed when Olivier Giroud came off the bench at half-time, and gave Wenger´s side a platform up front to haul themselves back into the game and, eventually, salvage a draw.
Ramsey gave them hope when he converted Santi Cazorla´s low cross and the much-criticised Giroud capped a fine display when he headed home Nacho Monreal´s cross in the final minute.
The equaliser was a reward for Arsenal´s persistence rather than their performance but perhaps it also demonstrated a new resolve that they lacked last season.
Finding a way of picking up points when they did not play well is not something that has come easy to the Gunners in the past but, after beating Crystal Palace in injury time last week, they have managed to do so in both their Premier League matches so far this season.
