LONDON: Ashley Williams\u00a0s 86th-minute header ended Arsenal\u00a0s 14-game unbeaten run and kept Arsene Wenger\u00a0s side from the Premier League summit as Everton claimed a much-needed 2-1 win on Wednesday.
\nArsenal would have provisionally supplanted leaders Chelsea on goals scored with victory and took a 20th-minute lead when Alexis Sanchez\u00a0s free-kick deflected in off Williams.
\nBut Seamus Coleman equalised with a 44th-minute header before Williams\u00a0s first Everton goal ended his team\u00a0s five-game winless run and sent Ronald Koeman\u00a0s men up to seventh in the table.
\n“We showed two faces,” Everton manager Koeman, who had defender Phil Jagielka sent off in stoppage time, told BT Sport.
\n“The first face, I hate that face because it is all about being nervous. You cannot lose the game like that.
\n“This was a good match though because we showed how we have to play — with commitment and aggression. You see the reaction of the crowd when you go for it and that\u00a0s what we did.”
\nArsenal manager Wenger said the game had been “very physical”.
\n“We faced many physical challenges and that disturbed our game, but we were a bit unlucky to lose as well,” he said.
\n“They were a bit scared at first, but they got their confidence. We did fight, I cannot fault that.”
\nMeanwhile, champions Leicester City were brought down to earth after their 4-2 demolition of Manchester City as Marc Pugh\u00a0s goal earned Bournemouth a 1-0 win at the Vitality Stadium.
\nArsenal made only one change from their 3-1 win over Stoke City, fit-again right-back Hector Bellerin replacing injured centre-back Shkodran Mustafi, and took a 20th-minute lead.
\nThe goal stemmed from a comedy of errors on the edge of Everton\u00a0s box as Ross Barkley lost possession, Williams fouled his own team-mate Idrissa Gueye and Jagielka tripped Francis Coquelin.
\n– Thudding header –
\nSanchez sent the free-kick curling towards Everton goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and in seeking to clear the ball, Williams succeeded only in deflecting it into his own net.
\nIt was Sanchez\u00a0s 12th effort of the campaign, putting him level with Chelsea\u00a0s Diego Costa as Premier League top scorer.
\nLeighton Baines curled a right-foot cross towards the back post from the left and Coleman nipped in between Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal to glance a deft header past Petr Cech.
\nMesut Ozil spurned a glorious opportunity to restore Arsenal\u00a0s lead early in the second half, wafting a shot over the bar from Sanchez\u00a0s cut-back, while Barkley drilled wide at the other end.
\nThe noise level rose as the game wore on and with four minutes to play Everton struck the winner, Williams flying in at the back post to send a thudding header past Cech from Barkley\u00a0s corner.
\nEverton had Jagielka sent off after he picked up a second yellow card, but the hosts survived despite a late scare that saw Arsenal substitute Alex Iwobi have a shot blocked on the line.
\nIt was Arsenal\u00a0s first league defeat since their 4-3 loss to Liverpool on the season\u00a0s opening day and means they will be six points off the pace if Chelsea win at bottom club Sunderland on Wednesday.
\nLeicester remain without back-to-back league wins this season after defeat at Bournemouth — their eighth of the campaign — kept them in 14th place, just four points above the relegation zone.
\nPugh marked his first start of the season with the game\u00a0s only goal, slamming home the rebound after Leicester goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler saved from Benik Afobe in the 34th minute.
\nEddie Howe\u00a0s Bournemouth leap four places to eighth, nine points clear of the bottom three.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON: Ashley Williams\u00a0s 86th-minute header ended Arsenal\u00a0s 14-game unbeaten run and kept Arsene Wenger\u00a0s side from the Premier League summit as Everton claimed a much-needed 2-1 win on Wednesday. Arsenal would have provisionally supplanted leaders Chelsea on goals scored with victory and took a 20th-minute lead when Alexis Sanchez\u00a0s free-kick deflected in off Williams. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n