Arsenal have tasted defeat in the Premier League for just the second time this season, as Everton ran out deserved 1-0 winners over the Gunners at Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime.
Sean Dyche was expected to face a true baptism of fire in his first game in charge of the Toffees, but the Merseyside hosts rose like a phoenix from the ashes to inflict a rare loss on the table-toppers.
James Tarkowski's header on the hour mark was all it took for Everton to rise out of the relegation zone and put a dent in the Gunners' title aspirations, and the inquest has already begun.
Mikel Arteta has affirmed that he remains "so proud" of his players, who are guaranteed to finish the weekend at the top of the table, but just where did things go wrong for Arsenal on Saturday?
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at three key factors which worked against Arsenal, who will now aim to respond when they face Brentford at home next Saturday.
Goodison Park curse
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Whether the grass is not cut to their liking or if the atmosphere simply intimidates them, Arsenal's trips to Goodison Park - or anywhere on Merseyside - have ended in misery for some time now.
A spate of defeats on the red side of the city at Anfield has not come as much of a surprise, but not since Arsene Wenger's final season in charge have Arsenal travelled back from Goodison Park with all three points in the bag.
Indeed, Arsenal have posted a miserable record of four defeats and a draw from their five post-Wenger Premier League games at Goodison Park, with the only Gunners coach to avoid defeat in that time being Freddie Ljungberg.
A 2-1 loss to Everton in December 2020 had some unironically talking about relegation for the Gunners, and defeat by the same scoreline last season would end up proving costly in the Champions League race.
Even with a remarkable record behind them, the Goodison Park curse still has not been lifted for Arsenal, who were ostensibly affected by the bouyant atmosphere that Dyche and his new manager bounce brought along.
Doubling up
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There are no two ways about it - Arsenal are at their free-flowing best when Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are given licence to thrive and cut inside in the wide areas, which has been a staple of the Gunners' play this season.
However, when teams double up against Arsenal's effervescent wingers, there does not seem to be a plan B. Newcastle United executed such tactics perfectly at the Emirates Stadium last month, and Everton followed suit on Saturday. In the end, both teams prevented Arsenal from finding the back of the net.
Saka's effectiveness is certainly limited when he cannot cut onto his left foot and shoot in a manner that Arjen Robben would be proud of, but credit must be given to Vitaly Mykolenko, who defended with vigour against the Englishman throughout the entire game.
With Saka and Martinelli nullified, there is more onus on Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard to break the lines, but Everton were always out quickly to put pressure on the ball and block off any passing lanes, while not giving Eddie Nketiah a moment to breathe if the ball did make its way through to Arsenal's number 14.
Leandro Trossard injected some life into Arsenal's attacks in the dying embers, but a wayward effort summed up the Gunners' afternoon, and a few shooting drills at London Colney would not go amiss in the coming days.
Midfield misery
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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta took the midfield by storm during his days as an Everton player at Goodison Park, but unfortunately for the Spaniard, his current selection of lynchpins could not follow in his footsteps.
Sighs of relief were heard all across North London when Thomas Partey was passed fit to make the starting lineup, having shaken off a rib injury sustained in last week's FA Cup defeat to Manchester City, as his partnership with Granit Xhaka has been largely impermeable.
However, neither Xhaka nor Partey covered themselves in glory at Goodison - whether the latter's recent injury scare was to blame is up for debate - as Everton utterly dominated the midfield throughout.
Andre Onana - supposedly one midfielder whom the Gunners were looking at in January - was a constant presence alongside Idrissa Gueye and Abdoulaye Doucoure, the latter of whom should have opened the scoring in the first half with a poor header.
Dyche spoke at length about "hard graft" in his pre-game programme notes, and his midfield trio typified the displays that the Everton boss will be looking for week in week out, as Arsenal just could not compete physically and were made to pay the price.
Arteta attempted to gain some control by bringing Jorginho on for Partey just before the hour mark, but the less said about the Italian's debut the better, and the engine room is undoubtedly still an area of concern while Arteta works with just three fit lynchpins for the remainder of the season.
Ben Knapton
