As he delivered his verdict on a victory that swept Arsenal back to the top of the Barclays Premier League, Alan Shearer could have been forgiven for sitting uneasily in the BBC’s Match of the Day studio on Saturday evening.

The former England striker had incurred the wrath of Arsène Wenger after Arsenal’s goalless draw away to Portsmouth on Boxing Day by suggesting that an apparent inability to deviate from the “beautiful football” with which they have become synonymous could derail the North London club’s title challenge. Wenger had responded by saying Shearer was “stupid” for making such claims and, given the boorish manner in which Arsenal overcame Everton, the Frenchman may have had a point. As ripostes go, it was perfectly timed.

As strange as it may sound, Arsenal were outplayed in the first half at Goodison Park on Saturday, with Everton leading courtesy of Tim Cahill’s ninth goal in 15 matches.

Then Arsenal did in the second period what they do not do under Wenger — or so we thought. They resorted to the kind of gruff, hounding, route-one tactics that the Frenchman has so often derided Bolton Wanderers for employing against his team and that Everton were perhaps once familiar with before they matured into the slick, skilful unit that David Moyes has fashioned this season.

Arsenal’s first three goals came from long punts upfield. They also closed down the space and hurried their opponents out of possession. It was a near-complete reversal of styles. Everton’s misfortune was summed up by the fact that Mikel Arteta will be missing for three matches after he was sent off for an innocuous-looking “elbow” on Cesc Fàbregas, while Nicklas Bendtner will receive only a one-match ban, even though the Arsenal striker’s second yellow card for a studs-up lunge on Andrew Johnson’s shin was worthy of a straight red. “It was a s*** decision,” Arteta said of his red card. Everton, however, will not be appealing.

For a moment, Wenger almost seemed ashamed that his team had played so directly — “I didn’t want that,” he said — before warming to the idea that there is more to this Arsenal team than flair and fluency, although it was Phil Neville who hit the nail on the head. “Arsenal are a fantastic team and they do look like they have added that little bit of toughness,” the Everton captain said. “A couple of years ago they came here and showed a weakness when we really got in and about them. They didn’t like to play against teams like Everton and Bolton, but now they are a lot tougher.”

As is probably to be expected from a former Manchester United player, Neville thinks that the title will remain at Old Trafford, but Wenger’s belief in his players is unwavering, and with good reason. “You have to accept all kinds of opinions, but opinions are opinions and it doesn’t mean that people are always right,” he said.

“What’s amazing is that we beat Chelsea, we beat Tottenham, we drew 0-0 at Portsmouth and we were in crisis. We had 44 points before the [Everton] game, which is one less than [at that stage] in the unbeaten season [of 2003-2004], so that tells you a lot about the quality of this team.”

This was Everton’s first loss at home since the controversial 2-1 defeat by Liverpool on October 20, but while Moyes refused to become embroiled in another refereeing row, his disappointment was understandable on a day when the scoreline, if not necessarily the result, flattered Arsenal.

Phil Jagielka failed to connect with a header that gave Eduardo da Silva his first Premier League goal within two minutes of the restart, although the Everton defender would have been spared the ignominy of being dumped on his backside by Da Silva had Martin Atkinson spotted a handball by the Croatia striker in the lead-up to his second goal.

Had Yakubu Ayegbeni not steered an inviting header wide a minute before, the match might have taken on a different complexion, but it was as good as over the moment Joseph Yobo and Tim Howard got themselves in a dreadful mess, leaving Emmanuel Adebayor with the simple task of walking the ball into an open net. Tomas Rosicky scored an undeserved fourth in the final seconds.

So Arsenal can win ugly, after all.

Everton (4-4-1-1) T Howard 5 A Hibbert 7 J Yobo 6 P Jagielka 4 J Lescott 8 M Arteta R 7 P Neville 7 L Carsley 6 S Pienaar 7 T Cahill 7 Yakubu Ayegbeni 6 Substitutes A Johnson (for Hibbert, 71min) Not used S Wessels, J Vaughan, N Valente, V Anichebe

Arsenal (4-4-1-1) M Almunia 6 B Sagna 5 K Touré 6 W Gallas 6 G Clichy Y 7 A Hleb 5 F Fàbregas Y 6 M Flamini Y 6 A Diaby 5 Eduardo da Silva Y 8 N Bendtner Y R 3 Substitutes E Adebayor (for Eduardo, 74min), L Diarra (for Hleb, 82), T Rosicky (for Fàbregas, 88) Not used J Lehmann, P Senderos

Referee M Atkinson
Attendance 39,443