Arsenal:
              Lehmann
  Toure (Lauren) Campbell Cygan Cole
Ljungberg (Gilberto) Vieira Parlour Pires
        Henry Kanu (Edu)

After than though, Everton started to dominate. Ferguson is particular caused a lot of problems as he seemed to be winning everything in the air. But there were very few clear-cut chances for either side.

Cygan gave away an unnecessary corner on 18, and it came through to bounce off Kilbane at the far post forcing Cole to clear off the line. Lehmann came out well for the resulting second corner.

Lauren had to come on for Toure after 22 minutes, when the Ivory Coast man picked up an injury.

On the half hour we took the lead against the run of play when Freddie caught Everton cold at the back. He picked the ball up in midfield, found some space for himself and slipped the ball through the defence for Kanu who rounded Martyn nicely before slotting home with his left foot.

10 minutes later it was Arsenal who were caught cold, Kilbane's whipped in cross evading our static defence and finding Rooney unmarked 6 yards out. It was one of those chances that was easier to score than to miss. So I guess it took a special kind of player to miss the header by quite as far as wonderboy did.

Just before the break Henry took a free kick which Martyn looked to have covered until it took a big deflection off Unsworth. The deflection beat Martyn but sadly beat the goal as well.

Arsenal had been coming into the game more towards the end of the first half, but Everton started the second better and continued in that vein. we were under to cosh from the start. Freddie got booked for encroachment at a free kick which was moved 10 yards goalwards. That made it a bit of a better chance for Rooney, whose drive was straight at Lehmann but powerful enough to require a fine save. He punched it out with both fists, and made a second save from Ferguson's follow-up. We broke straight away and with a 3-on-3 situation should have done better. Henry's eventual cross for Kanu was too strong and went out for a goal kick.

Things went a bit mad for a bit after Cygan fouled Radzinski. The ref waved play on, but Ferguson wasted it, then the ref called it back for the foul. Shortly after, someone clattered into Cygan in apparent retaliation, and from then on Cygan's distribution became particularly awful.

Around the hour mark Henry had 2 half chances to wrap it up on the break. First he robbed Unsworth but Stubbs intercepted the cross for Kanu, then he robbed someone else and tried to put Freddie in but the Swede had strayed offside. Both times Henry might have had a go himself.

20 minutes to go Arsenal's Frannie Jeffers came on for Everton, replacing Kevin Kilbane (4 strikers on the field now). Jeffers made all the difference, making a right nuisance of himself for the rest of the game. 5 minutes after he came on, Cygan challenged Ferguson for a punt forward from Martyn, and it fell to Cole. But he was caught in possession by Jeffers who got a shot in. Lehmann saved it but it fell to Radzinski to equalise.

Arsenal brought on Edu for Kanu. Jeffers continued to worry us, a typical flick goalwards fortunately going straight to Lehmann.

Freddie had a decent shot deflected out for a corner. The corner was cleared but came to Edu on the edge of the box. Lovely turn but then he dragged the shot wide. But most of the action in the last few minutes involved Arsenal defending rather than attacking. Kevin Campbell came on for the goalscorer Radzinski and Gilberto came on for Ljungberg with 2 minutes to go, but neither made the immediate impact that Jeffers did.

In the end, we certainly didn't deserve any more than the draw. Man Utd will be very happy tonight, having got 3 points from their tricky visit to Bolton. Chelsea lost at home to Liverpool. Everton battled well but were nothing special tonight. 2 points dropped. 20 games and still unbeaten, but are Man Utd pulling away...?

Thanks to the Sun for this cautionary tale. The moral appears to be: make sure your football-watching habits are out in the open before you get married. Oh, and don't imagine that Britney Spears would want to marry you, not even if she says so.