6.13am the alarm went off. My black cat walked by eagerly expecting to be fed. After clumsily breaking a mirror during my morning routine, I grabbed my new shoes from the kitchen table and headed out. My neighbour passed me on the stairs and wished me luck for today's game. 'It's Everton away.' I said. 'We're gonna need it.'
Despite a hold up on the M6 because of a lorry having spilled salt across three lanes of traffic, arrival was met on Merseyside by content faces. Arsenal fans are content at their club's current situation but aware that recent form at Goodison Park has been dreadful. They were guarded against potential defeat because, well, we-don't-win-up-there-do-we? Conversely, Everton fans have contented themselves to a season of misery. Not only is their team seriously lacking in quality, especially up front, their manager is a husky-voiced-moaning-dinosaur and their owner - once lauded as their saviour - has turned out to be a false massiah. Even talk of a takeover from the dubiously named 777 Group isn't raising spirits given the fact they have stakes in multiple clubs across europe and that those stakes aren't all welcome.
All this created strange vibes. Goodison Park is one of the last remaining old school grounds in the Premier League. Across Stanley Park, even Anfield doesn't seem like it used to. Extensions to all stands, except the Kop, mean it's most iconic 'end' resembles a manager's dugout from a Subbuteo set. Everton have (somehow) funded a shiny new Stadium on the dockside. It is due to be finished at the end of the season but doubts remain about which division of football it will be hosting when it opens.
That's because Everton are a bit crap. In recent season Everton versus Arsenal at Goodison has had the feeling of Arsenal versus Stoke during the 'they-don't-like-it-up-'em' Tony Pulis era. The crowd have been hostile, the players have been intense and the managers (10 including caretakers) have been inspiring. In this latest encounter, none of that was present.
Despite that, Arsenal were left blunted by their own creativity in open play. The arc of frustration is back. No big tall target-man to aim for means passes go across and around the penalty box, instead of varying the play with the odd cross into the middle, much to the delight of Dyche's Everton who sat deeper than the Irish Sea.
However, Everton seemed so reluctant to attack, Arsenal bided their time and put all their creativity into a range of (incredibly slow ;-) corner routines that inspired mixed reactions from the travelling support (mostly frustration). Eventually though, one such routine found it's way to Saka. He cut back to Trossard who sublimely hit it first time and the ball pinged off the post and into Pickford's goal.
It might not be much but it's enough to break The Goodison Curse. Not since Francis Coquelin was prowling the Arsenal midfield had Arsenal won in the league at Goodison. Arsenal come away with a victory and a new chant for their Captain Fantastic, Martin Odegaard. The two trajectories of the clubs couldn't be more different at the moment. Now the curse is broken it'll be a shame not to venture their again. Those stands with their close proximity to the pitch, posts that block people's view and flammable wooden floors.