Everton came up short against Arsenal, losing 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium – and Mikel Arteta’s words about the Toffees will come as no real surprise.

David Moyes’ side were unable to get back on track after losing to Chelsea, with Ezri Konsa and Gabriel both on target for the hosts. Everton simply came up against a side with more quality.

But Moyes’ post-match verdict likely won’t go down too well. He stated that his side gave ‘a good enough effort’ against both Arsenal and Chelsea. But Everton failed to take any points.

Everton supporters were left unimpressed by the performance against Arsenal, with the Gunners being the ones to take the initiative.

After the game, Arteta gave his view of Everton – and the comments he made pretty much summed up the Toffees under Moyes.

Mikel Arteta gives a familiar compliment about Everton, but it’s tiresome

Speaking after the game, Arteta said (via BBC Sport): “It’s a big win for us. It was a tough week with the schedule we had to go through, a lot of minutes and the games were coming thick and fast.

“We knew we had a very good opponent in front of us but, overall, we had a good performance and fully deserved to win.”

It is common for opposition managers to call Everton very good even when they have beaten the Toffees, Another popular one is when they call Everton ‘tough’.

But compliments from the other side about Everton don’t really mean all that much after a loss, and fans who are questioning Moyes at the moment are certainly getting a bit fed up.

Everton may be a ‘very good opponent’, but where has that actually placed the Toffees? Yes, there are no longer fears about relegation under Moyes, which is nice. But Everton don’t contend for trophies and have been out of Europe for nearly 10 years now.

Everton supporters have heard variations of this narrative for years: the Toffees are organised, competitive, difficult to play against and capable of making life uncomfortable for the big sides. But ultimately, they aren’t expected to stop these sides from achieving their objectives.

And the likelihood is that while Moyes is at the helm, things won’t really change. It will continue to be about Everton being a good opponent that is tough to beat. But it’s little consolation for failing to show ambition like the Brightons and the Bournemouths of the world.