Arsenal overcome Everton with Trossard goal, Chelsea misfire in 0-0 draw at Bournemouth

It wasn’t pretty or exciting on Sunday but Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Everton was just the kind of game that Premier League title challenges can be built on.

A classy 69th-minute shot by substitute Leandro Trossard sealed the three points and lifted the level of quality against a limited Everton team playing spoiler at home.

It was a third straight 1-0 loss for Everton at Goodison Park this season amid prospective new American ownership for the club.

Arsenal was the only team in action Sunday to score, after Chelsea misfired in a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth.

Trossard entered the game unexpectedly early when Gabriel Martinelli was injured within a minute of play restarting after he thought he had given Arsenal the lead in the 19th. It was ruled out by an offside spotted on video review.

The victory kept Arsenal level with Tottenham and Liverpool, trailing two points behind defending champion Manchester City at the top of the standings.

It was Everton’s first game since the club announced majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri agreed a sale to Miami-based 777 Partners. 777 has stakes in multiple clubs worldwide including Hertha Berlin which, like Everton, was in decline on the field when a majority stake was taken in March. Hertha was relegated and is now in the Bundesliga second tier.

The proposed Everton deal must be referred to the Premier League and British regulator the Financial Conduct Authority.

Everton took more than 70 minutes to force a corner and tried to survive on about 25% possession of the ball throughout a game that ended with boos from some fans.

With just two goals scored in five league games Everton has the worst scoring rate. Last-place Luton also has scored just twice though in one game fewer than Everton, which already is back in the bottom three places where it spent much of last season.

“Last season nothing was solved,” Everton coach Sean Dyche said. “I’ve said there is massive work to be done.”

It meant debut-making Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya had little to do replacing Aaron Ramsdale, who was rested after starting for England on Tuesday in a 3-1 win over Scotland.

A hectic week for Arsenal sees the club return to the Champions League for the first time in seven seasons on Wednesday, at home to PSV Eindhoven, before hosting Tottenham in the north London derby next Sunday.