Fired-up Gunners Answer the Snipers

Just when Sir Alex Ferguson thought his Hogmanay could not get any worse, along came Arsenal with a first win in four away matches to leapfrog Manchester United and go into 2008 as League leaders. And on a rainy night on Merseyside too. Ferguson has been a great believer over the years in the ability of northern teams and wintery conditions to unsettle London teams on their travels. Having come from a goal behind to post one of the results of the season with only 10 men on the pitch at the end, Arsenal have probably scotched that myth for good. Ferguson might be better off hoping they get stopped by Dick Turpin on the way home.

Yakubu's critics say he does not get around the pitch enough, yet while no one could mistake him for Mr Perpetual Motion he has upped his work rate effectively in the past couple of months to make Everton's 4-5-1 formation work. His persistence in chasing a lost cause led directly to the opening goal when he pressured Kolo Toure into conceding a corner. Mikel Arteta took it, Niklas Bendtner made rather a hash of helping out his defence with a half-hearted clearance at the back post, and when the ball bobbled up obligingly in front of goal the ever reliable Tim Cahill was marginally quicker with his feet than Yakubu with a stooping header for his seventh goal of the season.

If it was an uncharacteristically sloppy goal for Arsenal to concede, what happened next was even more unexpected. Everton began stroking the ball around with confidence and panache, as if determined to show that Arsenal are not the only team capable of finding each other with flicks and first-time passes. One drag-back by Joseph Yobo high up the pitch on the left wing brought a gasp of admiration - Yobo is a center-half, after all. Then after Steven Pienaar produced a similarly subtle touch Yakubu shot narrowly wide.

Phil Neville might have done better than blaze wastefully into the Park End when Tony Hibbert gave him a sight of goal and the chance to score twice in successive home matches, though what summed up Arsenal's first-half disorientation was the sight of Alexander Hleb passing straight into touch under no particular pressure.

Just before the end of the first half Yakubu showed all his strength to out muscle Toure and burst into the area, only to go down too easily in search of a penalty when the defender came back for more. It seemed all Yakubu needed to do was stay on his feet to get in a shot, and a decent opportunity went begging when Martin Atkinson rightly waved away his claims for a foul.

Unfortunately for the mood of the party traveling back to Manchester, the heavy rain stopped in time for the second half and when play resumed it was Everton's lead that was quickly obliterated. Arsenal stopped messing about, got the ball forward early and took Everton by surprise. Perhaps no one was expecting Gael Clichy to hit a long ball into Everton's box from inside his own half; certainly Phil Jagielka was slow to cut out the danger. Eduardo was a touch fortunate in that he seemed to control the ball with his arm before scoring, though there was nothing wrong with the finish as he turned and lashed a shot past Tim Howard.

Yakubu missed the target with a free header from Joleon Lescott's cross before Eduardo pounced again to give Arsenal the lead. Again the ball was transferred quickly forward, this time a headed flick from Bendtner helping it find the Croatia striker, and again Jagielka was left floundering. Eduardo's control and quickness on the turn left the Everton defender on his backside before his second crisp finish of the evening flew between Howard and an upright.

Eduardo was brought off 15 minutes before the end, Arsene Wenger sending on Emmanuel Adebayor in response to going down to 10 men. Having been booked for a foul on Hibbert in the first half, Bendtner could have no possible complaints about his raking challenge on Andy Johnson bringing a second yellow.

Arsenal still managed to profit from the situation when, with virtually his first touch, Adebayor took advantage of a comical mix-up between Yobo and Howard to nip in and seal victory. Cesc Fabregas's over-reaction to a stray though hardly-raised arm by Arteta then brought an undeserved straight red for the Everton player and a scuffle in the middle of the pitch. Fabregas was subsequently booked for a separate offense and withdrawn for his own protection before Tomas Rosicky's stoppage-time fourth. No southern softies these, and the question for the new year is how much fight is in Manchester United.

Man of the match

Eduardo Arsenal's Brazilian-born Croatia international did not do much except score two goals, but that is exactly what he is there for. The striker's two accomplished finishes took the game away from Everton and created the platform for the two later goals that emphasized Arsenal's superiority.