Arsenal's continued shyness in front of goal has not prevented the champions from gatecrashing the Premiership table and yesterday another trademark 1-0 victory lifted them into second place behind Aston Villa.
The goal that beat an unadventurous and relegation-troubled Everton came from the left foot of Nicolas Anelka, the fifth successive league game in which the Frenchman has scored. But, perversely, the feeling remains that Arsenal still need to sign a more consistent goalscorer. They were lucky to be meeting an Everton side who came for a draw and never seriously threatened to take advantage of Arsenal's lapses by scoring. Duncan Ferguson plopped one header on top of the bar and flashed another wide but Arsenal, as with so many of their games this season, carved out the bulk of the chances and fluffed all but one.
This time it did not prove costly, as in the recent draw against Southampton, and in Europe on three occasions. But it remains a problem. "Slowly, yes, this is a problem which is beginning to worry me," said manager Arsene Wenger. "We lack a bit of aggression in the box."
If all this sounds hard on Anelka, then that does not detract from the fact that his winner was another contender for Goal of the Season.
But this is Anelka's problem: he is a scorer of great goals, not a great scorer of goals. So many times this season he has picked up the ball in similar positions, about 18 yards out with an inviting pass available but blasted selfishly for goal. He found the top corner yesterday but nine times out of 10 the ball ends up in the stand.
Arsenal's scoring record is striking in the wrong way. Out of 16 games in the Premiership and Europe this season they have failed to score in four, scored once in seven and twice in three.
Better news for Arsenal is that their injury list is shortening. Yesterday Marc Overmars, as well as Anelka, was able to return, with Dennis Bergkamp on the bench as he is eased back. So there were only two differences from Arsenal's first-choice team, with Gilles Grimandi playing perhaps his best game for the club in place of Tony Adams, and Fredrik Ljungberg filling in for Bergkamp.
Shaking off the disappointment of Wednesday's defeat in Kiev, Arsenal began brightly, as Dave Watson headed off the Everton line from Ljungberg's header after only three minutes. Three minutes after that and Arsenal scored what turned out to be the winner. Lee Dixon broke down the right, fed the ball inside to Ray Parlour who cleverly let it run before feeding Anelka.
The 19-year-old left the hapless defender Richard Dunne for dead and headed for the left edge of the area. Ignoring the pleas of Overmars to his left, Anelka struck a rare left-foot shot past Thomas Myhre.
With Everton happy to position eight men behind the ball for much of the time, Arsenal continued to push forward, creating problems from midfield with balls over the top and through the channels.
Myhre blocked twice in succession from Anelka, who then shot wide from deep in the area after being released by Ljungberg's precise through-ball. Parlour then had what looked a valid penalty appeal turned down as Watson grabbed his arm.
Everton reorganised for the second half, introducing Danny Cadamarteri's pace to the right wing. But Arsenal continued to threaten. Emmanuel Petit saw a promising shot blocked, Anelka missed the target again from inside the area and Patrick Vieira glanced a header about an inch wide.
ARSENAL: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Vieira, Ljungberg, Anelka, Overmars, Keown, Parlour, Petit, Grimandi. Subs Not Used: Bergkamp, Wreh, Manninger, Hughes, Upson. Booked: Grimandi, Keown, Petit. Goals: Anelka 6.
EVERTON: Myhre, Cleland (Hutchison 77), Ball, Dacourt, Watson (Cadamarteri 45), Unsworth, Collins, Ferguson, Materazzi (Milligan 84), Bakayoko, Dunne. Subs Not Used: Short, Simonsen. Booked: Dunne, Materazzi, Collins, Ferguson, Cadamarteri. Att: 38,088.
Referee: G Willard (Worthing).
