Arsenal did not need their best attacker to pass another title-race test on Saturday. Ezri Konsa opened the scoring in the seventh minute and Gabriel sealed a 2-0 win with a header after the break, lifting Arsenal to 21 points. That is the same tally as Manchester City, who had lost 2-1 at Aston Villa in the lunchtime kick-off.

Only goal difference separates the two sides at the top.

Konsa pounced at the back post from Arsenal’s first corner. Viktor Gyokeres, handed his first Premier League start of the season, provided the flick that led to the scramble and was credited with the assist.

Everton had their best moment before the interval, when Thierno Barry was played through by a loose Ben White headed back pass and could not beat David Raya. David Moyes, in his second spell as Everton manager, called it the kind of chance his side needed to take if they were going to win in north London.

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“We didn’t really get to a level which I think would have been good enough to win on the day,” Moyes told Sky Sports.

Gabriel’s night, on and off the pitch

The second goal belonged to Gabriel, and so did the drama around it. The Brazilian went down holding his right knee after an awkward fall midway through the second half and had Arsenal supporters holding their breath, before shaking off the knock to head home Ben White’s delivery on 68 minutes.

It came on his 200th Premier League appearance.

Speaking to Sky Sports afterwards, Arteta said the Brazilian’s teammates had reacted as if the injury were serious before Gabriel insisted on playing on. The Arsenal manager praised the mentality of a squad that has now come through a Champions League trip to Bayern Munich in midweek, where they drew 2-2, and a Premier League weekend without their most important attacker.

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“We’re very happy with the victory, with the performance and with the week, because we were given a terrible schedule,” Arteta told Sky Sports.

Arteta was also shown a yellow card for straying out of his technical area, his second of the season, leaving him one booking away from a touchline suspension.

Doing it without Saka

Victory lifted Arsenal to seven wins from eight league games. It also came with Saka watching from the sidelines. The 25-year-old winger was forced off in the opening minutes of the midweek 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich with a quad problem, and Arteta has so far declined to put a timeline on his recovery.

In Saka’s absence, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke carried the forward threat alongside Gyokeres, while the back four, marshalled by Gabriel and Konsa, kept Everton to that single clear chance across the 90 minutes.

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For Everton, who were without Jack Grealish and Jarrad Branthwaite at the Emirates, the defeat was a second in a row and leaves them still looking for their first away league win of the season after four attempts.

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