A Birthday Present from the Past

To coincide with the Gunners' 125th Anniversary celebration, Arsenal were expected to display the brand of football they have recently been associated with, the slick passing combined with pass and run that have been the trademark of Arsene Wenger since he arrived in North London sixteen years ago.

A repeat of a 7-0 scoreline against an Everton side going through a bad patch would add to occasion.

However, as in life it did not always turn out the way you planned. The Toffees came with a game-plan and David Moyes' boys stuck to this plan and managed to keep the scoreline level, though on a number of occasions it was more down to the home side inability to finish the chances that came their way.

Topscorer Robin van Persie even managed to look below par as he could not bring his team-mates together on the same wavelength.

But the thing with players such as van Persie was that he only needed one moment to change the complexity of the match and after labouring for the best part of the match, the captain finally found his moment when he connected perfectly with a lob by Alex Song with a volley that left Tim Howard stranded.

It was like an eternity watching the ball rolling and as it was going towards the far post the was this fear in my mind that it would bounce the 'wrong' way. But it did not and as thousands celebrated at the Emirates, the five of us GanuGooners joined in the celebration.

It was a goal that almost mirror the one scored against Charlton a few seasons ago but this time it seemed more refined. It would be included in many great goals compilations from now on.

One-nil to the Arsenal was more synonymous with George Graham's era but the three points that came with it were as welcomed as at any time. It showed that there was still the never say die attitude among the players that push them to create something out of nothing even when they have been frustrated throughout the match by the resolute defending showed by Everton.

The final whistle could not have come soon enough, especially after another teenage player in blue came very close to better Woz Szczesny in the Gunners' goal.  Conor McAleny nearly did what Wayne Rooney had done on his debut but much to the relief of Gooners around the world it was off-target.

Three points from a 1-0 win, sounds very, very familiar to me.

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