UNAI EMERY said Arsenal remains in control of the race for Champions League qualification after another disappointing away performance saw his side lose 1-0 at Everton on Sunday.

Phil Jagielka, only drafted into Everton’s starting line-up at the last minute, scored the game’s only goal as Arsenal extended their wretched record as the only club in the top four divisions of English soccer not to have kept a clean sheet on their travels this season.

But Arsenal boss Emery, while conceding his team had played badly, tried to remain positive in the aftermath at Goodison Park.

“I think generally we are well. I don’t think; ‘today we lost and we are very bad.’ It was a bad result, not a good performance today, but we are fourth,” Emery said.

“Before, I knew it was going to be difficult. After this result, I am thinking the same.

“After this result, we can be negative because it is three points lost, but it is in our hands, if we continue taking chances and opportunities, to be in the top four.”

Everton had already threatened from one of Lucas Digne’s long throw-ins before the full-back delivered the set-piece that led to Jagielka’s opening goal on 10 minutes.

His throw was flicked on by Jagielka himself, for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to attempt a header on goal that saw the ball take a kindly bounce, falling to the unmarked defender who swept in from close-range.

There were Arsenal appeals for offside, and television footage seemed to show that Digne’s foot might have been over the line in the process of taking his all-important throw.

But it was certainly a dramatic intervention from Jagielka, who had only been called into the team minutes before kick-off when Michael Keane finally succumbed to a virus that had rendered him a doubt.

Jagielka, 36, has suffered a difficult season at Goodison, with a series of knee problems limiting him to three starts.

It was also the former England international’s first goal since April 2017 as he became the oldest player to score in the Premier League this season.

Victory also meant that Everton has beaten a “big six” side for a second consecutive home game, having failed to win against one of those teams in the previous 25 attempts.

(SD-Agencies)