What The Papers Say - 18 December

The views on this page are taken from the local and national media and do not necessarily reflect the views of Everton.

The Liverpool ECHO features quotes from former Everton defender Mason Holgate. The centre-back represented the Blues for a decade after signing from Barnsley in August 2015.

Holgate played more than 150 times for the Toffees, but one fixture stuck out from the rest. The 29-year-old started from the off as Frank Lampard's side secured their survival in the penultimate match of the 2021/22 campaign with a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over Crystal Palace on an unforgettable night at Goodison Park.

"Goodison – going in there, the scenes of getting the bus in there and stuff like that, and then at the end, we turn it round to 3-2," said Holgate.

"I just remember in the changing room at half-time how it felt. And then I think I headed one down, and Keano (Michael Keane) scored and then once Keano scored, it kind of just felt like they were just going in and in and in and in.

"I can't really remember the second half, but it was a great, great memory, and especially the games leading up to that as well.

"I think they're the games that you want to be part of. Obviously, you don't want to be part of it because Everton's a massive club, you don't want to be in a relegation battle, but games that mean so much coming towards the end of the season are something that's always going to stick in your memory.

"Especially when you come out the right side of it as we did, it's something that I'll never forget because I personally feel like I contributed quite a lot going into that last run of the end of the season.”

Elsewhere, The Mirror looks ahead to Saturday’s (8pm GMT) clash with Arsenal at Hill Dickinson Stadium, providing an insight in to Mikel Arteta’s team selection.

The national newspaper claims the Gunners' boss has a decision to make further forward, with wingers Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke both in a rich vein of form.

"I feel Arsenal have a little bit of a conundrum because Madueke is playing really well and Saka is their best player," said Micah Richards.

"They are too reliant on Saka all of the time. If you look at the goals that [Leandro] Trossard or [Gabriel] Martinelli score, they need to do what Saka is doing on the right-hand side."

In the hosts’ camp, the outlet debates whether Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will feature after being forced off in the first half against former side Chelsea last time out.

After the clash at Stamford Bridge, Moyes told Match of the Day: "Losing Kiernan was a blow to us but I thought we adapted quite well. It disrupted us for about 10 to 15 minutes. I thought we'd started the game well. In that period, we just lost the goal… It's hard to be disappointed with a lot of the stuff we've done.

"But I'm disappointed because we didn't win, disappointed because we've got a couple injuries, but not disappointed with how the players are going about it."