Darren England paused the game after 16 minutes with O’Brien waiting to take a trademark long throw, eventually showing the Toffees man a yellow card. It wasn’t clear at Goodison Park that a VAR check was underway, but a statement from the Premier League Match Centre has now confirmed that a challenge on White was looked at for a possible red card.
Taking to social media platform X, the Match Centre wrote: “The referee’s call of a yellow card to O’Brien for the action on White was checked and confirmed by VAR – with this deemed not to be violent conduct.”
Everton v Arsenal: Stop-start first half interrupted by VAR
It’s been a scrappy start to the affair on Merseyside. In the opening two minutes, Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Arsenal forward Raheem Sterling both lost their footing on the turf. Delays at set plays have been plentiful with the Goodison Park faithful taking particular issue with some delays over Gunners corner kicks.
Beto has looked the most dangerous for Everton when running at the Arsenal centre-back pairing of William Saliba and Jakub Kiwior. The latter is in the side following an injury to Gabriel during the win over Fulham on Tuesday night.
The most the two sets of fans have had to cheer about came in the ninth minute during a touch applause in memory of the late Kevin Campbell. The striker, who passed away last June at the age of 54, began his career at Arsenal before going on to play for Everton.
Mikel Arteta on Goodison Park return
It’s a return to Goodison Park for Mikel Arteta, who spent six years of his career as a player at Everton. It’ll be the Spaniard’s last visit to the famous ground with the Toffees moving to the new Everton Stadium for the next campaign.
Speaking ahead of this weekend, Arteta said: “Yeah, it will be very special. It's a lot of history as well between the clubs. I have my own personal story which was a beautiful one. I've worked with a manager that's come back now and he's doing extremely well. I'm so happy for the club, for David as well because it's never easy to come back there for the second time.
“In my opinion, it was the manager, the person who lifted that club to a different level and now he's in the journey to do it again once they move to a new stadium. I think it's a really nice story.”
In other news, this is how Arsenal fare alongside Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in the latest Premier League table without VAR.
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