The last time Arsenal visited Everton, they had one of those horror afternoons, which in the end defined their English Premier League season. On Saturday evening, Arsene Wenger, armed with a better squad and the return of his World Cup winning stars, will hope for a change in script, one where Arsenal banish those big-match blues and stamp their authority on the English Premier League.
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The 3-0 defeat suffered in April, when Everton shot off the blocks like Usain Bolt in hunt of the 100m world record, will still worry Arsenal, to a certain extent, even if that disappointing result was tempered by the fact that they overhauled Roberto Martinez's men to fourth place in the final standings.
The manner in which Everton just overran Arsenal was a sight to behold, with Romelu Lukaku, who started from the right in that particular match, showing why Everton shelled out a club-record £28 million for his permanent signature.
Lukaku again will look to outmuscle the Arsenal players while Martinez will be plotting another strategy to outmanoeuvre their opposition.
"In the quality of our performance, and even more than that in our mental resistance, the mental steel on the day [the loss to Everton] was one of our low points," Arsene Wenger admitted. "At the start I played with [Mikel] Arteta and [Mathieu] Flamini in the middle of the park.
"We did not have [Mesut] Ozil, we had [Aaron] Ramsey on the bench, just coming back from injury. We played with [Lukas] Podolski, [Olivier] Giroud, and we were a bit bullied. It was an off day, as well physically."
Arsenal had several of such off days against big opposition last season, which eventually played a big role in them losing their grip on the Premier League title after being top of the table for so many weeks.
Wenger admitted his team would have to improve their performances against their top four and title rivals if they are to make a sustained challenge for the Premier League crown this season, and there is no better place to start than with a win at Goodison Park on Saturday.
"We beat them in the FA Cup in a convincing way, so it will be interesting, because they are a team now flirting with the Champions League places," added Wenger. "It's a good, good test.
"They [have a good chance to finish in the top four] because this season they have entered the bracket of clubs who spend between £20-30 million for one player. Behind that is the ambition to go into the top four and they were close last year."
Arsenal were made to sweat and pull out all of their fighting resources to come away with a victory on Premier League opening day, with Ramsey scoring a late winner against a dogged Crystal Palace side. The Gunners, though, followed up that result with a goalless draw in Turkey against Besiktas – a game which saw Ramsey sent off -- in their Champions League qualifier first leg, and with Everton having a full week's rest, it just might help the home side, who will be fresher of the two teams.
Just don't tell that to Martinez. "I think Arsenal playing in midweek can work both ways," said the Everton manager, whose side could only manage a 2-2 draw against Leicester City in their opening match of the Premier League. "Having a few more games and having had extra travelling could work in our favour, and with a team that's not used to doing that, I would say 'yes, it would'. But, in Arsenal's case, that's what they do, it's in their make-up. Playing in Europe, having to travel, using the whole squad, they're used to doing all that.
"On the other hand, it could be an advantage for them as they've had two or three very competitive games. They should be ahead of us in terms of those small margins of sharpness and fluidity on the ball, but we are just looking internally and we are trying to be as good as we can be."
Sharpness and fluidity were certainly Everton's features in the game against Arsenal at Goodison last season, and the team that gets a grip on the game in the first 20-30 minutes might just walk away with those wonderfully content smiles at the final whistle.
Team news: Everton: Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy are both expected to feature for the home side, with Darron Gibson also in contention for a return after coming off a long-term injury. Arouna Kone, Bryan Oviedo and Ross Barkley, though, will miss the game.
Arsenal: Kieran Gibbs is still ruled out after suffering a hamstring injury in the win over Crystal Palace, while former Everton player Mikel Arteta is ruled out with an ankle problem he picked up in midweek. Theo Walcott and David Ospina remain sidelined, but Yaya Sanogo could return.
Wenger will hope to include Ozil, Podolski and Per Mertesacker in his squad, but it remains to be seen just how many minutes of action they get.
Expected lineups: Everton: Howard; Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; McCarthy, Barry; McGeady, Naismith, Pienaar; Lukaku.
Arsenal: Szczesny; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Flamini; Wilshere, Ramsey; Sanchez, Giroud, Ozil.
Prediction: 2-2
