Everton fell to another defeat in the Premier League on Saturday, losing 2-0 to Arsenal, and there was a first Premier League start for Jake O’Brien.

There was to be no getting back to winning ways for Everton after losing to Chelsea, with the Gunners comfortable victors at the Emirates Stadium. Ezri Konsa opened the scoring early on after bundling home from a corner, and Arsenal found their second through Gabriel in the second-half.

This game was something of a free hit for Everton, given their record at the Emirates Stadium and Moyes’ own record against Arsenal. Plus the fact they are in such good form.

But it was another tepid performance from Everton, and Moyes risked the wrath of fans afterwards by suggesting his side had given ‘a good enough effort’ in the losses to Arsenal and Chelsea.

Against Arsenal, there was no Jarrad Branthwaite, with Jake O’Brien his replacement – and Moyes gave his verdict on the Irishman after the match.

What David Moyes made of Jake O’Brien vs Arsenal

O’Brien has been stuck on the bench so far this season, with Branthwaite and James Tarkowski the preferred centre-back pairing.

It has been a frustrating time for him. He played right-back for the most part last season and had hoped to start regularly in the middle this term. But he just hasn’t been playing at all.

But he got a chance yesterday with Branthwaite out because of concussion protocol.

And actually, despite the defeat, O’Brien’s numbers were relatively good. As per Sofascore, he made the most defensive actions of any Everton player with 13 – 11 of which were clearances. This was only one behind Gabriel of Arsenal who made the most in the game.

He won two of the four duels he contested, and was quite tidy on the ball, misplacing just one pass all game (28/29 – 97%)

After the game Moyes was asked for his verdict on O’Brien, and the manager was relatively pleased with him. He said: “Jake did well. Done a lot of good things, Jake. It’s just, he’s got pretty big competition. Branthwaite’s an excellent player. Tarky is a bit of a leader for us, he trains every day like a beast and gets himself ready for all the games and prepares himself. There’s competition there.

“But he didn’t do himself any harm today in some of it. He’s got lots of things he has to improve on for him to step up.”

O’Brien unlikely to keep place

While Moyes seemed relatively pleased with O’Brien’s performance against Arsenal, it feels somewhat unlikely that he’ll stay in the team once Branthwaite is back.

Branthwaite has been a standout performer this season, and Tarkowski has also produced a string of great displays. Once again yesterday against Arsenal, he was better than most of his teammates and led by example.

It was slightly telling that, in a question about O’Brien, Moyes mentioned both of those players as being strong competition. It was a chance for Moyes to speak solely about O’Brien, but he still diverted away from that and mentioned two other players.

It indicates that neither of those guys are in particular danger of losing their starting berths. And we know Everton tend to be better when Branthwaite and Tarkowski play in the middle together.

But the good news for O’Brien is that he appears to have jumped above Michael Keane in the pecking order, at least.