Apart from Naismith and McCarthy, the rest underperformed for me they lacked the fitness, drive and sharpness to see off Arsenal’s fightback in the 2nd half and this was our downfall and again another 2 points dropped. I wasn’t impressed with the substitutes that Martinez made during the game, for me Barry should have been replaced with Besic at 2-1 and Mirallas should have been taken off sooner, not convinced with Osman replacing Pienaar either. I would have been far happier with Atsu coming on using his raw pace putting them on the back foot. Besic for me should have been introduced especially when Arsenal were up for the fight in the middle of the park and were dominating us and pushing, thus not allowing us to keep possession, it needed someone to put the foot in and push them back.

Something I did notice whilst watching the game on my own surrounded by Arsenal fans, how unnatural it looked at times especially with our two centre backs in keeping possession, it looks forced and clumsy with both Distin and Jagielka looking uncomfortable with the ball, it was making me nervous everytime they received and offloaded. Surely this needs to be addressed by Martinez sooner rather than later, with Stones being the obvious choice to replace Distin.

Anyway enough of Arsenal, we have Chelsea to think about now and I hope we can start our season and deliver some sort of performance that allows us to kill the game off with clinical finishing and much-approved stamina that lasts for the full 90 minutes against a team that will be in contention to lift the title next May. I really hope that Besic makes his first appearance this season, midfield is going to be a key battleground and given that Arsenal  had huge success during the 2nd half winning most 50/50 tackles and retaining possession with ease, we can’t allow Chelsea to dictate the pace. It would be huge if we could get the 3 points on Saturday against an inform Chelsea team, just before the International break, it would really set the marker for us and allow all Evertonions to dream big on what this season could possibly offer.

Getting onto our new signing Eto’o, I have to be honest, not really impressed with our new addition, can’t understand what a 33-year-old, who’s won everything you can in football, still has something to prove. I  really hope I am proved wrong on this and that Martinez has done it again, but I would have been far happier with Welbeck or Remy both players for me have something to prove and more importantly both are still young and hungry to make a difference. It’s been clear during preseason and our first 2 league games that we have lacked firepower up top or options to change things that would make us stronger in the final third to be able to kill games off, so hopefully our new arrival will prove me wrong and be another shrewd signing by Martinez.

My Prediction…

Everton vs Chelsea

My line up: Howard Coleman Jagielka Stones Baines Mirallas McCarthy Barry Besic Naismith Lukaku.

Subs: Robles Distin McGeady Eto’o Alcaraz Osman Hibbert

Result: Everton 1 vs 0 Chelsea  Lukaku

Twitter – @CumbrianToffee

COYB