Arsenal were able to squirm from the BayArena with a draw last time out, as Kai Havertz scored against his former club in the 89th minute to equalise. 

The Gunners are in an excellent position this season - they are in the EFL Cup semi-finals, FA Cup quarters and also sit seven points clear at the top of the Premier League. They have won three straight league matches coming into this clash, picking up big wins against London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham, respectively, which means confidence in the camp should be high. 

Knowing that Man City aren’t out of the hunt just yet, the Gunners will need to keep their foot on the gas, and they will hope for another positive result against Everton this weekend. They came away with a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, as Viktor Gyokores scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot. 

It wasn’t the most entertaining game in terms of chances, but Arsenal were the dominant side throughout, and they kept Everton penned into their own defensive third. The Toffees managed just five shots worth 0.2 xG in front of their home crowd, with just one effort hitting the target. 

Everton also only registered four fouls in the entire game, but that still translated to two yellow cards. The Toffees have struggled in recent years against Arsenal, and haven’t won any of their last six matches, failing to score in four of those games. This selection has landed in each of the last four head-to-head meetings, and Everton picked up three yellow cards on their last visit to the Emirates. 

They were shown three yellows in their last Premier League away day, which was against Newcastle, so Everton are averaging exactly 2.0 cards per game on their travels this season.

James Tarkowski is averaging just 0.75 fouls per 90 this season, which is notably lower than his numbers last season, but he seems to take things up a gear when playing against the top sides, and he accounted for one of those bookings in the reverse fixture against Arsenal. 

In fact, the centre back has been carded in four out of seven meetings against Arsenal in total, and he has committed at least one foul in all of those. He clearly doesn’t like facing the Gunners very much, and he is averaging 1.43 fouls per 90 against them. 

Tarkowski should have his hands full on Saturday evening, trying to contain the Arsenal front line. Gyokores is the prime candidate to start up front, and he is not one to shy away from a physical contest. The Swedish international is averaging 1.11 fouls drawn per 90 this season.

Leandro Trossard suffered an injury against Mansfield in the FA Cup, so he has emerged as a doubt to feature this weekend. The Belgian international has fallen into a rough patch of form, and is yet to score in 2026. Gabriel Martinelli looks set to occupy the left wing against Everton here. 

The Brazilian international, by contrast, has five goals under his belt this calendar year, and has looked much sharper on the flank. He is averaging 2.79 shots per 90 across all competitions this season at the Emirates, and he found the back of the net in his last home outing. Even though that was only against Wigan in the FA Cup, Martinelli did land this selection in his last matchup against Everton at the Emirates. He had two shots in that game, both of which came from close range, and he was denied by Jordan Pickford. 

Vitaliy Mykolenko was kept busy on the defensive front in that game, as he was up against Bukayo Saka on the flank. The Ukrainian international registered two fouls, and was lucky to escape a caution. He also had four tackles to his name, and was dribbled past three times, highlighting how he was engaging in duels with the winger, rather than backing off. 

It was a similar story when these sides last met at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, but this time, Mykolenko was less lucky. He was booked after just 26 minutes, which meant he had to play with caution. Still, he registered three tackles, and was dribbled past twice up against Saka again on the flank. 

Mykolenko is averaging 0.88 fouls per 90 this season, but that rises significantly to 2.0 in his five matches against Arsenal, and he has been booked in two out of five appearances against the Gunners.

For the first time since October, Beto has been entrusted by David Moyes to start in back-to-back games for Everton, and he seems to have established himself as the number one option up front. He is a useful option to have up front, less so for his conversion rate, but because he puts himself about and creates problems for opposing centre backs. Beto is aggressive in his press, and isn’t one to shy away from a duel - because of that, the centre forward is averaging 2.09 fouls per 90. 

He racked up four fouls when he last faced Arsenal, and William Saliba was fouled twice. Gabriel Magalhaes was absent from that one, but the Brazilian international was fouled twice when he last faced Everton at the Emirates. 

Gabriel is averaging 1.13 fouls drawn per 90 across all competitions this season, and has landed this selection in four of his last nine matches.

As most teams have this season, Everton really struggled to progress the ball forward against Arsenal in the reverse fixture, and they managed just five shots in the entire game. However, they were without some of their key players, as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was injured, and Idrissa Gueye was away at AFCON. Iliman Ndiaye was another notable absentee, but the Senegalese international looks set to start here, and he should be looking forward to this matchup. 

He helped Everton secure a point against Arsenal in his last start against the Gunners, as he converted from the penalty spot in a 1-1 draw. He accounted for three shots in that game, of which one hit the target. 

Ndiaye is only averaging 1.27 shots per 90 this season in the Premier League, which is nothing to write home about, but he tends to be accurate with his efforts - 50% of his shots have hit the target, and that has translated to five league goals.