Arsenal:
              Lehmann
      Lauren Toure Campbell Cole
Ljungberg Gilberto Cesc Pires (Hleb 29)
Reyes (Song 85) van Persie (Bergkamp 66)

We had a couple of dodgy moments early on. First Cesc caught Arteta very late and got booked, and then Campbell played a terrible ball out of defence, giving it straight to a blue shirt, but Toure made a good clearing header when the high cross came over from their right.

Then we started. Pires got deep and cut the ball back for Fabregas, only for Weir to make a crucial challenge. Pires took a corner which was header onto the cross bar by Weir and out for a corner (Martyn might even have got a touch after Weir).

Then on 11 minutes Reyes was fouled on the left, and stepped up to take thr free kick himself. He swung it into the danger area and Campbell powered his way in front of a defender to head past the keeper.

Cole screwed up his control on the left wing near the half way line but Lauren made an excellent covering foul as they broke towards Lehmann. That was a rare lapse because we were all over them on that left wing, Cole combining well with Pires and Reyes in particular. After one nice move down that side Cole got deep with the ball and hit a low cross which was cleared from the goalline just ahead of van Persie and Cesc.

Again on the left wing, this time Cole cut it back to where Weir had to make another good challenge to deny van Persie. Neville and Reyes collided badly, with Reyes needing treatment.

On 25 a great end-to-end attack ended with a ball threaded through by Reyes for van Persie's run. Under challenge he controlled it well with his firsttouch and hit a shot which hit the wrong side of the near post. They had a rare attack through Neville's long throw, which was glanced on by an Everton head but then headed clear for a corner by one of ours.

Neville had fouled Pires early on (after the match Bobby claimed that the former Man Utd man, the subject of the Highbury booing from the start of the game but all the more so after this, was trying to injure him). Sure enough after 28 minutes Pires had to come off, to be replaced by Hleb. Shame, because I thought Pires had looked sharper than in the early games of the season, but Hleb putin an excellent performance in his place.

Then Reyes won another free kick, this time on the left wing. Again it was swung in, but not quite so deep this time, and this time Campbell had to jump to get his head on it. But the end result was the same. Second league game in a row where a central defender had got us 2 goals, and great to see Sol back in such fine form. He's a bit more solid at the back than Cygan, too. It was also nice to see our set-pieces coming off so well, and it's hard not to wonder if it was the fact that Reyes that was taking them that made the difference. If this keeps up, it'll be interesting to see if he starts taking more of them instead of Henry or Bergkamp.

Fabregas needed treatment after he went up in the air for the ball against Arteta and was caught in the face by a swinging arm as they came down. Revenge for earlier, methinks.

On 35 Freddie won another free kick on the right wing, off of new boy Ferrari who looked woeful. Reyes swung it in again and Sol was nearly there for his hattrick at the far post.

A few minutes later Reyes (surely the most fouled player in the league?) was pushed over by Cahill on the right wing, and again he took a good one. This time it was Toure who got his head to the ball, but from a central position he only managed to head wide of the near post.

And then on 42 it was Toure in attack again. This time he came charging upfield, played a one-two and then on receiving the return ball flicked it with the outside of his boot to the right for Freddie. Freddie took it deep and hit a low cross along the 6 yard line. Toure had continued to the near post and with back to goal tried a cheeky back heel as the ball passed between his legs, but he didn't catch enough of the ball and it continued on its way beyond the far post.

Typically, Arsenal dropped their tempo in the second half. But Everton had little to offer. Bent was isolated up front and although he didn't look too bad the midfield and defence were playing so deep, and Arsenal re-grouping so quickly, that when he or McFadden did get the ball they rarely had an options but to try to beat 3 Arsenal players on their own.

Reyes' dribbling was causing all sorts of problems again. 9 minutes after the break he ended up tackled just inside the box, but the ball came to van Persie who controlled it nicely on the goal line to beat a defender, before forcing Martyn into a near post save.

A really smooth move ended with Cole whipping the ball across the face of goal with no-one quite near enough to convert, and Reyes hit a great curler from our right which Martyn saved well, hight to his right.

On 12 Bent did manage to get clear of his marker on the break, just enough to hit a shot from the edge of the box which went straight down Lehmann's throat. Then Reyes blasted a shot 2 yards high from well outside their box.

Another great Arsenal move was started by van Persie deep in our half. He took it to the halfway line then played a perfect ball down the right for Reyes to run onto. He squared it and Gilberto's blast was blocked, only to come to van Persie who forced another save out of Martyn.

They attacked and we half-cleared it to McFadden on their left who also hit his shot straight at Lehmann.

Reyes got possibly the biggest cheer of the night (apart from the goals) when he was booked for fouling Neville.

On 66 Bergkamp came on for van Persie, and Ferguson for Cahill (a shadow of his last season's self). Everton changed to 4-4-2 and offered a little more up front as a result, incredible really that they didn't try it earlier.

But the chances were still all coming our way. Another Reyes free kick from the right was punched by Martyn but stayed inside the box where Freddie blasted it at the crossbar, it came out to Campbell whose acrobatic effort was off target and cleared.

A good recovery. We'd have liked 7 goals again, obviously. But it was very good to see Sol back in Sol form, and great to see goals being scored from set pieces. West Ham at the weekend will however be a bigger test.