View: Midfielder wins David Moyes role in Everton loss vs Arsenal - here's why

Everton suffered a heartbreaking loss to Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday.

Few people gave Everton any chance of turning up at the Emirates and taking anything with them back to Merseyside, but David Moyes’ side were just minutes away from doing exactly that.

With 88 minutes on the clock, the Toffees were still defending stoutly for a 0-0 draw against Mikel Arteta’s men, but Viktor Gyokeres punished Everton on 89 minutes after they failed to deal with a Max Dowman cross into the box.

Dowman then wrote himself into the Premier League history books in the seventh minute of added time, becoming the league’s youngest ever goalscorer with a fabulous solo run after Jordan Pickford had came up for a late corner.

Everton’s defeat to Arsenal is going to be a tough one for the Toffees to take, but when the frustration and emotion subsides in the coming hours and days, the abundance of positives to take will be clear.

Tim Iroegbunam in strong starting claim in Everton vs Arsenal

Iroegbunam has been pushing for a starting role in Moyes’ side throughout the season, but his 13 starts from 22 Premier League games tells a story of him being unable to cement a place in the XI.

However, still only 22-years old, the central midfielder has taken some notable strides forward in his second season as an Everton player, and has more than held his own when called upon.

With his last start coming in the 1-0 defeat to Man United on 23 February, Moyes decided to recall him to the lineup against Arsenal on Saturday, and the youngster put in a performance that should keep him in the side moving forward.

Despite facing off against one of the best midfield units in world football, Iroegbunam won the majority of his individual battles, and didn’t let Arsenal win the game in the middle of the park.

As per Sofascore, he made eight defensive contributions, made two interceptions, blocked one shot, won two out of his three aerial duels and made three recoveries.

Iroegbunam was also dribbled past zero times at the Emirates, made nine carries with the ball, played one key pass and completed 16 out of 21 of his pass attempts successfully.

Moyes found a strong formula involving Iroegbunam vs Arsenal

Jake O’Brien was moved to centre-back against Arsenal, with James Garner operating at right-back instead.

And whilst O’Brien didn’t have a great game, Garner certainly held up well on the right flank of defence, and that served to enable Iroegbunam to play alongside Idrissa Gueye in central midfield.

Moving forward then, that looks to be a recipe for success for Everton, as swapping O’Brien for either one of James Tarkowski or Jarrad Branthwaite is sure to bring about a better centre-back performance.

That will also mean that Iroegbunam, Gueye and Garner can all cohabitate in the starting XI together, which based off the former’s performance against Arsenal, is absolutely what he deserves.

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