The difference, the dynamic difference, was Theo Walcott.

His manager, Arsène Wenger, had reportedly wanted to rest him after his impressive exertions for the England team. But once he came on at half-time and the Arsenal team was reshuffled, it was an utterly different story.

Until then Everton had been sturdily holding their own and had the splendid impertinence even to take the lead, and almost scored again when Gael Clichy came to the Gunners’ rescue on the line. Lacking two regular defenders in Bacary Sagna and William Gallas, Arsenal fielded an unfamiliar back four, with the French international acquisition Mikael Silvestre, best known as a left-back, lining up at centre-back, with Alex Song in the right-back role.

This was somewhat unfair to Song, a talented young Cameroon international, and he was a different player when he was switched to the right centre-back position for the second half. He may be necessary in Istanbul on Tuesday, where Arsenal play Fenerbahce in the Champions League, as Wenger does not expect Gallas and Kolo Toure, who strained ligaments in his shoulder yesterday, to be fit.

However, it was Walcott, with his tremendous speed, great initiative and drive, who surely turned the tables. How appropriate it was that, served by Abou Diaby in stoppage time, he should drive Arsenal’s well-deserved third goal low into the left-hand corner.

Everton, quite simply, were overplayed in the second half when Arsenal raised their pace and their game. In the first half, deploying the 17-year-old Jack Rodwell in front of the back four, and with Tim Howard resilient in goal, Everton held their own, and exploiting the inadequacy of Arsenal’s right flank defence, could even have doubled their lead. Their goal came after only nine minutes.

Leon Osman set it up and scored it. Finding Steven Pienaar on the left, he moved swiftly into the middle for the return and scored. Horrid memories of Hull must have assailed the huge Arsenal crowd.

To give Arsenal credit, they were level soon after the break when Silvestre nudged the ball to Samir Nasri, who thumped in a right-footer from the edge of the box. It was 2-1 after 70 minutes when Cesc Fabregas, so steadily influential, received from a persistent Emmanuel Adebayor and enabled Van Persie to score with his head after Howard had blocked his own shot. In stoppage time, Diaby let Walcott cap his ebullient display with Arsenal’s third goal.

Though Wenger was the first one to say that Walcott “did very well when he came on”, he added: “I believe the whole team had pressure in the second half and that can’t come from any one person. In the first 20 minutes I felt my team was a bit nervous. We could not afford to drop a point. The way we responded from 1-0 down was vital.” He went on: “I believe that the game changed before Walcott came on. Everton made a strong start but in the last 20 minutes of the first half you could see we were on top. Our domination would increase in the second half.”

Everton manager David Moyes though the result “was a bit cruel”. He added: “I thought in the first 45 minutes we played really well. We were possibly a bit unfortunate not to be 2-0 up.” Things changed, he believed, with Arsenal’s equaliser, which he thought should not have been given. Nor, he insisted, had the team gone back into a defensive show because Walcott emerged.

Everton had their counter-attacking moments in that first half. Even if, on 16 minutes, only a splendid block by Howard frustrated the always incisive Van Persie when he spun away from Joleon Lescott to let fly with his formidable left foot. Three minutes later, after a forceful run by Yakubu, Osman had another shot deflected past the right-hand post. On 32 minutes the American goalkeeper Howard punched away Van Persie’s free kick from the right-hand corner of the box.

It was on 39 minutes that a somewhat somnolent Arsenal right flank defence allowed Leighton Baines to collect a short corner on the left and cross.

Lescott sent in a strong header that left Manuel Almunia, who may or may not become the first foreign goalkeeper for England, quite stranded. But there was a teammate on his right in the goalmouth to block the ball and send it to safety.

ARSENAL:Almunia 6, Song 6, Toure 6 (Walcott ht, 8), Silvestre 6, Clichy 7, Eboue 6, Fabregas 7, Denilson 6, Nasri 7 (Diaby 83min), Van Persie 7, Adebayor 7

EVERTON: Howard 7, Hibbert 6 (Neville 80min), Jagielka 6, Lescott 6, Baines 6, Arteta 6, Osman 7, Rodwell 6, Fellaini 5 (Saha 74min), Pienaar 7, Yakubu 7 (Vaughan 80min)