Perfect beginning as sticky Toffees passed

IT would be all too easy to be sucked in by all the hyperbole following Saturday’s astounding goal-fest at Goodison.

Yet with the world and it’s myopic media mate having written us off, we Gooners are entitled to feel a bit smug.

Not to mention cream crackered, after 90 minutes spent cavorting in the aisles, to the tune of “jump up cos we’re 1..2..3..4..5..6 – 0 up”, as we milked the Arsenal’s emphatic response to the full, while the lads let their feet (and their heads!) do all their talking.

As did all the Evertonians who refused to accept more miserable medicine and began flocking out of the ground at half-time.

Personally I expected the Toffees to come tearing into us after the break, after David Moyes had given them a piece of his mind (nothing could’ve stopped Denilson’s scorcher, but Moyes must’ve been positively seething about the awful defending that saw Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas gifted free headers) and to at least try and restore some self-respect by winning the second half.

But then with Everton chasing the game, they were always at risk of being sliced and diced by the Gunners, on a blisteringly swift counter, which is, or course, what happened.

I’ve been wallowing ever since in the glowing reports of all those journos who were only digging Arsene Wenger’s grave a few days prior.

Yet I’m still uncertain if this result was an anomaly, a consequence of an awful day at the office for Everton or a brilliant performance by Arsenal.

I suspect a little bit of both but whatever the case, there were plenty of positives to be drawn from our breathtaking display.

It might seem churlish of to complain but I was a little disappointed that we went to sleep at the death, allowing Louis Saha to spoil our clean sheet with Everton’s consolation prize.

Despite that minor irritation Vermaelen’s calm and decisive interventions on Saturday proved a much welcomed tonic, compared to some of the panic-struck defending we’ve grown accustomed to recently.

Moreover there was some pleasing evidence of the likes of Song and Denilson justifying the faith that Arsene has shown in them, as they both demonstrated that they might just be maturing into big game players, with some of the naivety of seasons past perhaps being replaced by a confidence and a presence that has been borne out of the unstinting belief of le Gaffer.

We hadn’t turned into also-rans prior to tonking the Toffees and we’ve not proved ourselves genuine contenders on the strength of one great result.

We’ve merely demonstrated that on our day we remain a formidable match for any side and that hopefully a season further on, Arsene’s work in progress is perhaps a little closer to bearing some fruit.

Yet it remains to be seen whether we’ve sufficient depth to our squad compared to our competitors and whether we’ve developed the hunger, drive and determination needed to grind out results when we are not quite at the races.

I’m not about to make any precipitous claims that the Gunners have cracked it, but the club’s parsimonious policy has ensured that the majority of this Arsenal squad have developed together, to a point where it’s hard to ignore a burgeoning sense of the cohesion and camaraderie, of the sort that many of the other big clubs are forced to try and fake nowadays.

Encounters don’t come much more stirring than the intense cauldron at Celtic Park and hopefully by the time you read this, Wenger’s squad will have proved their Champions League pedigree, with the sort of result that ratifies their increasing maturity.

Yet no matter where our destiny lies this season, so long as they’re prepared to put themselves on the line for one another week in, week out and can continue to conjure up such scintillatingly stylish entertainment every now and again, you certainly won’t find me complaining.

Bernard Azulay