Three things you may have missed in Arsenal 0-0 Everton draw including Mikel Arteta’s rollicking

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Arsenal had to accept a frustrating 0-0 draw with Everton in the Premier League at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, so you might have missed a few of these storylines.

The Gunners welcomed the Toffees to north London looking to apply extra pressure on early Premier League leaders Liverpool. But a defensive display from Everton restricted Arsenal as boss Mikel Arteta could not find a way to unlock the resilient and well-drilled Blues backline.

Sean Dyche set his side out to keep Arsenal at bay and try to capitalise on whatever scraps it left the Goodison Park natives. But it meant the Emirates Stadium crowd grew frustrated as Arsenal failed to take advantage of Fulham holding the 10-men of Liverpool to a 2-2 draw.

A few storylines also slipped under the radar during Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Everton, which moves the north Londoners to 30 points through 16 Premier League games this season. So, with that in mind, Arsenal Insider looks at three things you may have missed on Saturday…

Mikel Arteta gives Arsenal players half-time rollicking as Everton make Gunners wait

The first half of Saturday’s Premier League clash in north London was a generally frustrating time for Arsenal fans as Everton sat back and largely absorbed their advances. So, it seemed that Arteta gave his players a rollicking at the break with the 0-0 scoreline on the board still.

Everton were happy to simply let Arsenal have the ball with Dyche sending his players out to try and restrict the Gunners by staying compact. It meant realistic chances and especially all clear-cut chances were at a premium, with Arsenal directing two shots from seven on target.

So, it appeared that Arteta gave the Arsenal squad a rollicking at half-time with their players returning to the pitch around three to four minutes before Everton left their dressing room. The extra wait did not kick Arsenal into gear, however, as Everton continued to nullify them.

Bukayo Saka’s honesty denies Arsenal a chance to win a penalty vs Everton

Diving and tactically buying contact is sadly far, far too common in modern football. But the honesty of Bukayo Saka denied Arsenal a chance to win a penalty against Everton during the first-half of Saturday’s Premier League clash at Emirates Stadium when he burst into the box.

Chris Sutton once accused Saka of diving and coined the phrase ‘a dropper-downer’ to note the forward’s tendency to dangle his leg to ensure he is fouled, rather than play on. But that was not the case on Saturday when Saka skipped away from Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite.

Saka could easily have taken advantage of Branthwaite charging over and absorbed a foul to win Arsenal a penalty against Everton. But he chose to run toward the byline before picking out Martin Odegaard standing in space in the heart of the Blues’ box with a chance to shoot.

The attacker’s decision to play on, rather than buying a foul, did not pay off for the Gunners, though. Odegaard failed to convert his shot after Jordan Pickford used his knee to turn it out for a corner, which Arsenal failed to turn into a goal and the teams hit half-time level at 0-0.

Myles Lewis-Skelly now Arsenal’s fifth-youngest player to start a Premier League game

The host of injury problems which have regularly blighted Arsenal manager Arteta so far this season saw the boss give Myles Lewis-Skelly his first Premier League start against Everton. He came into the XI with Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko still needing treatment.

Lewis-Skelly had only appeared twice in the Premier League prior to lining up at left-back for the visit of Everton to Emirates Stadium. The 18-year-old had enjoyed brief, late cameos this season at Manchester City and against Liverpool, which totalled 15 minutes of regular time.

But Arteta gave the academy gem the nod on Saturday, following Lewis-Skelly starting in the Champions League against AS Monaco as Arsenal won 3-0 on Wednesday. Now taking on Everton made Lewis-Skelly the fifth-youngest Arsenal player to start in the Premier League.

Lewis-Skelly made his first Premier League start against Everton aged 18 years and 79 days old. He missed out on being the fourth youngest Arsenal player to start in a Premier League game by nine days to Serge Gnabry who got his first against Stoke City in September 2013.