We started the game superbly and our speed of passing was a joy. Everton did not know how to handle us for the first 15 minutes. As is often the case we were wasteful with our finishing and really should have buried Everton before and after Vermaelen had headed in van Persie’s corner.  It wasn’t the first time that Everton were undone by that combination. It was during Thomas Vermaelen’s league debut when van Persie curled in a free kick to the back post and Vermaelen leapt high and powered in his first Arsenal goal in our 6-1 victory.

I haven’t been able to find enough time to write about our wonderful Merseyside victory against Everton as I have been here there and pretty much everywhere these last few days.

But given my rather obsessive compulsive need to write about the Arsenal, I thought I would write a few words about our performance before we move onto the next fixture.

Everton away is always a difficult place to go to, they are a team who give everything and more often than not, they try to stop you playing your football. The Toffees have beaten Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea in recent weeks and that says it all. I have been worried about that game for the whole week and knew it would need another digging in display from the boys in red and white.

I was a little worried when I saw our pre match line up and was concerned that our best player in recent weeks could be shunted back to the left instead of his creative central role. As it turned out, it was Aaron Ramsey that played wider and once again it looks as if Arsene has changed his mind over the balance of the team. At least for tough games.

In his post match press conference after our thumping of Tottenham, Arsene made the point very clearly that he really liked the balance of Yossi Benayoun on the left hand side as it gave his team stronger solidity in our quest to win the midfield battle. Arsene knowing how strong and committed Everton were going to be in midfield sacrificed a wide forward for a harder working midfield player.

We started the game superbly and our speed of passing was a joy. Everton did not know how to handle us for the first 15 minutes. As is often the case we were wasteful with our finishing and really should have buried Everton before and after Vermaelen had headed in van Persie’s corner.  It wasn’t the first time that Everton were undone by that combination. It was during Thomas Vermaelen’s league debut when van Persie curled in a free kick to the back post and Vermaelen leapt high and powered in his first Arsenal goal in our 6-1 victory. Funnily enough it was Laurent Koscielny who headed in our winner at the Emirates last season.

It is amazing when you consider how strong we assume Everton are from set pieces and that we were criticised consistently for conceding from set pieces last season. Plenty of credit must go to Arsene Wenger and his coaches for improving that area of our game dramatically. Many are quick to point out when things fail but are not so quick to admit huge improvement, and that is what we have seen this season.

Everton got back into the game and put us on the back foot, it is hard to know if that was purely down to the home sides improvement or because we had sat back on the lead.

It reminded me of our game against Fulham during our sticky period. The reason for the outcome is at least for me, very clear. We had what is very close to or is our strongest defensive line. You’ve all heard the stats. Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny and Gibbs have been unbeaten when they have all played together.

At Fulham we had a midfielder at left back and a central defender at right back. We started that game brightly scored but could not produce a strong defesnsive display.

We are also putting in more during games and that could be possibly down to the fact that we often only have one game a week. I thought Tomas Rosicky put in a phenomenal amount of running during his time on the pitch and it was no wonder why he was the one that was replaced late on for Johan Djourou. He should have won us a penalty when Royston Drenthe clearly fouled him in the box so I do not really join in the howls of Everton deserving of something from the game. Szczesny was not tested, in fact Everton had one attempt on target and that is rarely enough to win football matches.

Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny were outstanding from the first minute to the last. Distribution, intelligence, commitment, desire, tackling, heading they had it all. It has been said that both could be too similar to play together but I think it is this reason as to why they work so well. They are both suited completely to our high line and build up from the back. They both cover each other because of their similar pace and they both contribute to our football by playing passes into midfield. Without those two as a partnership then we may well have not won at Everton on Wednesday night.

Alex Song has been criticised for giving the ball away before Everton’s disallowed goal and it reminds me of what Brendan Rodgers said about one of his players who misplaced a pass to Manchester United before I think Ryan Giggs scored the winner at the Liberty Stadium. The manager defended his player and explained that it was the clubs philosophy to play out from the back and keep the ball. It is how they play the game and why they have done so well this season, it will put them in trouble from time to time but they have to be brave enough to spot a pass and play it.

I think the same applies to Alex Song, Laurent Koscielny, Thomas Vermaelen and so on. It is how the likes of Song are asked to play the game and they are not robots, mistakes will happen but more often than not it comes off.

Another excellent victory that puts us above Tottenham for the time being. Our fixture run in is much tougher than Tottenham’s so let us hope we continue this commitment and intensity and that another Arsenal three points will be in the bag tomorrow.

Man of the match: Thomas Vermaelen