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David Moyes’s side was hoping to capitalise on their fine recent run by seeing off a Stoke team who are notoriously poor on the road, but in a game that failed to spark, a point was the fair result. The home side remain 10th on the table following the result while Stoke move up to 12th.

The game started quietly and the first real chance fell to Tim Cahill after eight minutes following a superb through ball from Marouane Fellaini. But the Australian midfielder could not make the most of his position on the edge of the box and shot wide.

Stoke’s ambition seemed to be limited as they regularly got all their men behind the ball in an attempt to starve Everton of chances but that approach also meant they could create little of note themselves. However, Everton did break them down on one occasion and should have scored when Fellaini and Cahill again linked up.

After 15 minutes, the Belgian midfielder delivered a fine cross to the penalty spot and although Cahill was unmarked, he could not guide his free header passed a grateful Thomas Sorensen who managed to smother. Everton had scored 14 goals in their last five matches in all competitions but the determination of Stoke to not concede was simply too strong in the first half.

The home side could not break Stoke down although a Diniyar Bilyaletdinov strike did appear to hit Ryan Shawcross on the hand in the box, only for referee Andre Marriner to wave away Everton’s penalty claims. Just before the break, Osman shot from the edge of the box and although the ball was travelling at speed, Sorensen managed a full length dive to tip the effort over.

Straight after half-time Everton were left to rue their inability to score when Stoke took the lead from a corner. A Matthew Etherington corner floated over Everton’s Sylvain Distin who mistimed his jump and Huth did the rest, crashing his 50th minute header home to put the visitors ahead.

Stoke had not won away from home in the Premier League since they beat Hull City back in April and their hopes of holding on against Everton were soon dashed when Osman produced a moment of brilliance to equalise. Having been put through on goal by Johnny Heitinga, Osman looked up and curled a wonderful effort into the top corner from the edge of the box to restore parity.

With 20 minutes left, Cahill once more headed straight at Sorensen following a wonderful Louis Saha cross to the back-post but other noteworthy moments continued to be few and far between. Moyes brought Ayegbeni Yakubu and Jo on late on to try and find a winning intervention but it never seemed likely as the match drifted out to what seemed its deserved conclusion.
Agence France-Presse

West Ham United were thankful for a late Junior Stanislas strike to seal a 2-2 draw as gallant Fulham rallied from conceding an early goal to nearly pull off an upset with 10 men at Upton Park.

Stanislas, who came off the bench just after the hour mark with West Ham 2-1 down, struck deep into stoppage time when his shot deflected in off Aaron Hughes.

The visitors, who had South African midfielder Kagisho Digikao sent off on his full debut after an altercation with Scott Parker, had recovered from conceding an 16th minute Carlton Cole goal to take an unlikely lead by the 57th minute.

Danny Murphy got Fulham back on level terms from the penalty spot after Diomansy Kamara was hauled down in the box by Matthew Upson just after halftime before Zoltan Gera struck with a beautiful volley.

Wenger became Arsenal’s longest serving manager during the week with 13 years’ service, which began in October 1996, and this was the ideal way to mark the anniversary of his arrival in the Premier League.

Back then the little-known Wenger was greeted with ‘Arsene Who’ headlines, but he is now the most celebrated and decorated manager seen in these parts of north London. It was somehow fitting that Thierry Henry, the man most associated with Wenger’s successful recent times, was a guest of honour at the Emirates and the sight of the French international beforehand provided extra inspiration.

But no one did more to inspire than the Cesc Fabregas, who turned in a virtuoso performance to completely unhinge Sam Allardyce’s team. Fabregas has struggled to find peak form so far this season, but as if he owed a debt of gratitude to Wenger, he rose to the occasion in magnificent style, scoring one of the goals and playing a crucial part in four of the others as Blackburn were buried under another avalanche of goals.

After the midweek success over Olympiakos and Manchester United’s slip-up against Sunderland, Wenger knew this was an opportunity to make another bold statement of intent about the club’s title chances, and they can go into the international break with a six-game winning streak under their belt and confidence at an all-time high among his players and staff.

Wenger believes there is a resolution about Arsenal’s youngsters this season that has been missing in recent seasons, and the manner in which they twice came from behind, was vindication of that belief. Blackburn’s first goal was anti-football to Wenger, all brawn and no brain as Steven N’Zonzi’s header from Paul Robinson’s 60-yard punt looped over Vito Mannone, who will not have been too happy with his positioning.

There was little the Italian could do about Blackburn’s second and it was swift counter-attacking of which Wenger would have been proud. El Hadj Diouf started it deep inside his own half with a wonderful pass to release Brett Emerton. The Australian’s pass left David Dunn with plenty still to do before the midfielder’s shot deflected off William Gallas and defeated a wrong-footed Mannone.

The response to the aberrations in front of Mannone were swift and clinical, inspired by the wonderful vision and awareness of Fabregas. It was the Spaniard’s pass that Thomas Vermaelen launched past Paul Robinson from 25 yards for Arsenal’s first equaliser and his fifth goal of the season.

Fabregas’s subtle passing on the edge of the area also led to wonderfully taken goals from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin, and if it had not been for Robinson it would have been far worse than six. Robinson pulled off saves to deny Van Persie, Fabregas and was in excellent form in front of watching England coach Fabio Capello, but there was little he could do to resist the irresistible.

Fabregas thumped in a volley from the edge of the area for Arsenal’s fourth and provided the flick for substitute Theo Walcott to score with virtually his first touch, before Nicklas Bendtner rounded off the celebrations in perfect style with a powerful shot from the edge of the area.
Agence France-Presse