Arsenal v Everton - e-Everton Preview

Article by e-Everton Correspondent Kenneth Jarvis

The biggest game of the season arrives with us on Saturday at 12.45 with out FA Cup Quarter Final tie against Arsenal. We haven't beat Arsenal in any match since the 18th of March 2007, when Andy Johnson drove the ball in in the back post in the torrential rain to give Everton a memorable victory. Our last win away to Arsenal was the 20th of January 1996, but that wont stop Everton fans from being optimistic, mostly because Saturday probably represents the closest quality margin of the two starting 11's for a long time.

It's also worth noting that our last two visits to the Emirates have been draws, so even if Everton can't secure a victory on Saturday, it will be cause for even more optimism if they have to have a replay at Goodison Park.

Arsenal have come off the back of being bullied, yet again, at Stoke. They also look on the brink of going out of the Champions League and this is the time of year they always seem to fall apart so it would appear the time is right for Everton to go there with confidence and belief, certainly Martinez has that in spades. The managers calculated confidence is infectious. However he has said that he thinks that now may be a bad time to play Arsenal as they'd want to bounce back from defeat, I'd accept that from a team of resilient characters but I can see Arsenal shrinking in confidence if a bright start from Everton is to be had.

The laughable ticket allocation and following excuse has given additional reason that Everton fans will want to get one over on the north London club. The reduction of allocation by nearly 4,000 denied the chance for many Everton fans to get to the game as regular season ticket holders who hadn't attended an away game this season didn't even get the chance to buy a ticket. The little over 5,000 fans that will be there will certainly be making the noise of your regular 9,000 but that doesn't excuse a classless tactic from Arsenal. If you don't know, Arsenal's 'safety advisory group' recommended a lower allocation due to safety fears over persistent standing and flares. I wonder in how many matches in the FA Cup this year that the away support has stood with their full 15% allocation? And as for flares, if Arsenal can't police that then they aren't fit to be holding football matches at such a big stadium. We all know it was done to try and reduce the effect of the away fans to give them a competitive advantage, but I just hope for the cups sake that the FA don't let it happen again.

Onto the Everton team and Jagielka will most likely be missing which would be a big blow, John Stones played admirably against West Ham but however precocious his talent, the captain is a consistent and brilliant defender but if he is out, it will give Stones another opportunity to showcase his ability, composure and confidence. Apart from that, the back 7 picks itself with Barry and McCarthy sitting in front of the defence. The attacking midfield three for this game in particular is very much up in the air. Mirallas and Deulofeu have only been on the pitch together for a little over 100 minutes for the whole season, Martinez for his own reasons must not think they would work well together so it's unlikely they will start. Any combination of Mirallas, McGeady, Deulofeu and Pienaar though is possible and it's exciting to have options in the wide positions that Everton didn't have for the whole period of Moyes' time at the club. In the middle of the park, Osman has been starting as of late, and you'd think against Arsenal that Martinez wouldn't want to experiment with Naismith playing with Lukaku (presuming Lukaku is fit enough to start) but we could also see a return of Barkley from the start after he had a much more confident cameo against West Ham. In short, we have options, which is very refreshing indeed.

I think Everton can justifiably go into Saturday with confidence, in the very least, confidence that we wont lose. I think a draw would be a very good result as Goodison would be at it's very best if there was a return leg so there would be no shame in closing out for a draw if it was looking likely towards the end of the match. All our players go through the international break with some not having to play at all so Everton should be firing on all cylinders come Saturday lunchtime. If Everton win, it could see an easy route to the final and in doing that European qualification. Lose and it could mean that a lower ranked team could get to the final meaning only 5th and 6th get to qualify so the game is not just important in the context of the FA Cup but also for our league season. We may have not won at Arsenal in 18 years, but life is different under Martinez, and I couldn't bet against him breaking another unwanted record.