Arsenal´s six appeal too much for Everton

Arsenal started the Premier League season with a show of intent on Saturday, demolishing Everton 6-1 here at Goodison Park to finish the opening day on top of the table.

Denilson, new signing Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas all scored in the first half to leave Everton reeling.

It only took three minutes for Cesc Fabregas to add a fourth goal in the second half and Arsenal’s Spanish captain also made it 5-0 in the 70th minute.

Fabregas marked his first goal by pointing at the sky and his second by running to the touchline to hold up an Arsenal shirt with the name Jarque on the back.

The gesture was in honour of close friend and Espanyol captain Dani Jarque, who died from a heart attack aged 26 while on a pre-season tour of Italy last weekend.

Eduardo made it 6-0 in the 88th minute when he sidefooted in a rebound from Andrei Arshavin that had bounced off the post before Everton pulled a goal back from Louis Saha in the closing seconds.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wanted to avoid a repetition of the poor start the Gunners had last term, where they lost five times in their opening 14 games, severely scuppering their title ambitions.

Any doubts that Arsenal would miss striker Emmanuel Adebayor and defender Kolo Toure, who were sold to Manchester City, were soon eased.

Denilson broke the deadlock in the 26th minute, scoring from outside the area after a move that began with Nicklas Bendtner and was helped along by the influential Fabregas.

Arsenal doubled their lead soon after through their only newcomer, the Belgian defender Vermaelen. He headed into goal inside the six-yard box from a Robin van Persie long-range free kick in the 37th minute.

Four minutes later, Arsenal were awarded another free-kick, and this time, van Persie allowed Fabregas to take it.

William Gallas, as unmarked as Vermaelen had been, rose to head the ball past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard to make it 3-0.

Maraoune Fellaini then had Everton’s first real chance, with his 33rd minute header being cleared off the line by Denilson.

Arsenal continued to dominate in the second-half, with van Persie crossing for Fabregas to complete a flowing counter-attack with a fourth goal.

The fifth came 20 minutes from time, the result of a counter-attack after Fellaini’s shot had been punched away by Manuel Almunia.

Much of the pre-match hype had been over the future of Everton defender Joleon Lescott, who is being wooed by big-spending Manchester City.

Two bids have already been turned down and despite Lescott handing in a transfer request, he was warmly received by Everton fans, even with a poor showing from the team’s defence.

Arsenal, who were without midfielders Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky and Sami Nasri and striker Theo Walcott with injury, hadn’t started a Premier League season away from home since 2004 – and that was with a 4-1 win at Everton.

But there’s little respite for the Gunners, who play Celtic in a Champions League qualifier on Tuesday.