Out of the traps

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
15 Aug	5:30 PM	P	Everton (A)	6	1	Win

It's a widely held belief that the first game of the season sets the tone for the rest of the campaign. Therefore, Gooners everywhere will be waking up, eating their bacon and eggs or, in my case, sugar level boosting strawberry jam on toast, with a sense of quiet optimism. Arsenal on Saturday, shorn of Rosicky, Walcott and Nasri, were simply sensational.

Yes, Everton were missing Jagielka and Arteta, yes, they are suffering from a saga all too familiar to the Gooner nation as the Lescott saga rumbles on, but this was the first game of a new campaign and a fixture where Everton always, at the very least, give us a battle. But they couldn't get close enough to us to even do that.

We took our seats, or rather bar stools, at the George IV in Chiswick yesterday afternoon and waited for Kevin to arrive. Due to bus traumas and traffic, he didn't join us till about twenty minutes into a fairly non descript first half, Bendtner shanking one high and wide just before he arrived. The "How you doing?" chat quickly died away as Arsenal took the lead. I'm sure we'll score a few this season, but we'll have to go a long way to better the opening goal of our campaign, Bendtner jinking one way and then the other, before feeding Cesc, who teed up Denilson for a stunning drive into the corner.

Cue text message from Asa Joséph: "Any more of those and I might have to take back some of the nasty things I said about Denilson this summer".

I'm sure I've said it before, I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I don't really understand why. The myth of the crab like sideways passing is plainly that. Even if it was true, is there suddenly something wrong with keeping possession?

Number two, when it arrived, owed as much to some truly apathetic defending - the kind of defending I regularly indulge in on a Thursday, truth be told - as it did to unerring delivery from a Robin van Persie free kick on the right. Thomas Vermaelen enjoying the freedom of Goodison Park to head home a debut goal. Not to be outdone, William Gallas quickly followed up in opening his account, nodding home a Cesc free kick from the left. Two easy goals from set pieces, wasn't it supposed to be the other way round?

At half-time, privately at least, my thoughts turned to the 7-0 defeat we inflicted on Everton 4 years ago - sat in a pub texting Kevin score updates, until four goals in, I began to fear for our friendship. As it happened, he was keeping our friend Harry updated. Harry, a massive Gooner, was at a wedding, so there was a weird kind of symmetry going on. What I actually talked about at half-time, somewhat crassly perhaps, was the likelihood of mad dog Phil Neville getting sent off and Liverpool's come back in the Champions League final four years ago.

The breakaway goal that RvP created for Cesc early in the second half put an end to such talk. And Kev's texted updates to Harry, at which point I took over. Cesc's pointing to the sky, one Budvar and a couple of Kopparbergs in, had me wondering what he was doing. Of course, his celebrations for his second goal of the game, where he ran through unopposed to finish with ease, made that one a bit clearer as he ran to the touchline and produced a shirt with the name "Jarque" in memory of the the late Espanyol captain, Dani Jarque.

We'd been joined, by this stage, by Gabs the part time Gooner and Malc, who were happy to see some goals, having had to stand through 90 minutes of nil-nil at Brentford. Eboue, Ramsey and Eduardo arrived to provide some rest for Bendtner, RvP and the skipper and one of the most popular goals, if perhaps the easiest he'll ever score for us, arrived in the dying embers of the match. Arshavin's shot popping back off the post for Eduardo to tap into the net and score his first Premier League goal in 18 months. As I said, it was a very popular goal, though I'd stop jumping around like a demented kanagaroo by then.

A text from swine flu Ben Ingber was telling: "Bendtner's looking the part ... fair play, you called it."

Bloody hell, if Ben's getting behind Bendtner, he must have had a good game, I thought to myself. This performance was the kind of performance where the boss' decisions over the summer, and prior to that, began to make sense. Not that I didn't see the sense in selling Touré and Adebayor, as you know. What I saw last night, or what I can remember of it, was Arsenal playing like a team, a point not lost on Arsène Wenger. Playing with flair, fluidity and desire. I've no doubt that there will tougher tests ahead, how will the team react to going a goal down at Old Trafford, for example? But you can't watch Arsenal overrun a team like Everton and not feel some kind of hope for the season to come.

That should have been that, but Louis Saha, in a fashion not too dissimilar to Eduardo, grabbed an irrelevant consolation goal. Irrelevant to Kevin anyway, by then, he had taken a seat away from the football and so missed it. Not that it would have done much for his mood, I suspect. I also suspsect this will be the last time Kev and I watch our two teams do battle with each other.

What was the final judgement then?

"That was alright, wasn't it?" from me. My only complaint was that, amongst 6 Arsenal goals, neither Bendtner or Arshavin, had much involvement. Not a major problem on the face of it, but they're in my Fantasy League team.

From Asa: "Just about settle for that, I reckon. Reasonably good."

And from Le Boss? "A good team performance."

Arsenal will now travel to Celtic Park, with internet wisdom suggesting players will only come in once the Celtic affair has been successfully concluded, in good heart. But hopefully with their feet on the ground.

They will also do it with Pep Guardiola admitting defeat in Barcelona's pursuit of the club captain. For this year, anyway. I know it's early, early days, but if Arsenal were to carry on as they have begun, what possible reason could Cesc have to want to leave? He'd be mad to.

I'm getting carried away, aren't I? Best to stop here, I think.

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