Just a point of clarification, Google is not penalising EMDs!
They have simply dialed down the additional benefit that an EMD had previously in the serps over a non EMD.
Many sites were previously ranking very highly purely off the back of this extra value that EMDs used to offer. When this additional
ranking boost was removed, sites that had done little to no other optimisation fell to the level that reflected a more realistic ranking
for that site. This started the mass public panic and rumors of EMD penalties.
Think about it why would Google penalise you for matching a commonly searched ketword or keyphrase? Provided your site is about
the subject in your domain, and is optimised well you will not be penalised for it.
EMDs are still valuable for several reasons, first they are still related to the topic or niche so have some residual SEO benefit.
Secondly dont forget the human factor. If a human is looking for a sparkly pink collar for their pet dog, they search for "pink sparkly dog collars"
and they see a list of urls in google:
www.petstuff.com
www.amazon.com>pets>accessories
www.pink-sparkly-dog-collars.com
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=leather+dog+collar
As a human they are going to still be drawn first to the url that matches exactly what they have searched for...