Arsenal top table with fighting win

Premier League - Arsenal top table with fighting win

Arsenal finish the year at the top of the league after beating Everton 4-1 in a bitter encounter at Goodison Park.

Eduardo da Silva scored twice for the Gunners, including one stunning goal, before substitute pair Emmanuel Adebayor and Tomas Rosicky rendered Tim Cahill's opener for the home side almost insignificant.

However, the match was overshadowed by the second half red cards for Nicklas Bendtner and Mikel Arteta.

Referee Martin Atkinson was given no choice but to send off Bendtner for his dangerously high challenge on substitute Andy Johnson, having already booked him in the first half for barging Joseph Yobo.

In truth, the Dane deserved a straight red for that challenge, and he will now only serve a one-match suspension for two yellow cards.

Unfortunately for Arteta, he was awarded a straight red card for his forearm making contact with Francesc Fabregas, and is set to miss three matches for Everton.

To compound the home side's misery, the two late goals they conceded made the scoreline look more humiliating than they deserved.

As Everton chased the game at only 2-1 down, Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia's goal kick was left by Yobo, unaware of the lurking Adebayor. The Togo international pounced to round keeper Tim Howard and tap the ball in for what must be the easiest goal of his career.

Then, in the fourth minute of injury time, Rosicky received the ball on the edge of the area from Bakary Sagna and struck a low finish in at the near post to make the score 4-1.

At the final whistle, Everton's virtuoso first-half performance felt like a long time ago.

The pace of defender Kolo Toure and the power of striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu had made for an intriguing battle throughout the half, and one such face-off led to the creation of the opening goal.

The burly Nigerian forward was chasing a long ball into the corner, when Toure swooped and stole in front of him, only for the Ivorian centre back to be forced into conceding a corner due to the physical presence of his opponent.

Arteta swung the resulting set piece to the far post, where striker Bendtner bungled his clearance. With the ball in mid-air, Yakubu stooped to head it over the line, only for Tim Cahill's boot to just beat him to it.

It took the stuttering Gunners just two minutes after the break to equalise. Gael Clichy's cross was not cleared by Phil Jagielka and Eduardo span round and finished with his left foot from the penalty spot.

That was followed ten minutes later by a superb goal form the Croatia international, as he chested down a long ball, flicked it round Jagielka and left the defender on the floor before slotting a cool finish past Howard to give the Gunners a 2-1 lead.

That goal promised to give the match a real lift before the dismissals and fracas ruined the game as a spectacle.

reference: "eurosport"