If there ever was a way to silence your harshest critics, then a six one win away from home on the opening day of the season seems just about perfect.

With the likes of Toure and Adebayor having been spirited away by Sparky, the doubters had begun to gather. Many, including ex-Gunners players, were vocal in their discontent; the team needed a new centre half, needed more steel in the centre of the park, needed more up front than they had. Come full-time on Saturday evening, Arsene Wenger must have afforded himself a smile as Arsenal’s start to the campaign took off emphatically…

The introduction of Thomas Vermaelen to the starting XI was an impressive one; the left footer settled instantly between Gael Clichy and William Gallas at the centre of Arsenal’s defence. A particularly weak Everton performance never really had him under much trouble, and although the centre half finished the game with a goal, it was more down to some atrocious set-piece defending on the part of David Moyes players than anything else.

Arsenal entered the season with a new formation, and their 4-3-2-1 system, refined during pre-season, worked to devastating effect. The front three, with Van Persie up front, Andrei Arshavin providing trickery and constant menace just behind him on the left, and Niklas Bendtner giving a more robust, aerial presence on the opposite flank, gave Wenger the ideal attacking balance.

But it was the dynamic between their midfield three that really set up Arsenal with the licence to obliterate their Goodison opponents. Cesc Fabregas, with 2 goals and 2 assists, quite rightly hogged the headlines and grabbed our FPL attention. Despite his proven track record, Cesc -due mainly to Andrei Arshavin’s form from last January onwards- sneaked under our radar slightly, but this new attacking role (plus, along with Van Persie, his set piece duties) sets him up as the main contender to sit alongside Lampard and Gerrard as a must-have. It was behind Fabregas, however, where the two unsung heroes, Denilson and Song, provided the platform for the little Spaniard to run amok.

Alexandre Song featured more and more in the Arsenal first team last season, his performances growing as he became accustomed to a place in Wenger’s starting XI. The clamour for more steel in the middle of the park this close season has seen the rumoured return to the fold of Patrick Viera as something of a masterstroke, but luckily for Song Wenger is a man who sticks both to his beliefs and his principles.
This chalkboard shows that of all the tackles Arsenal made in the match, a quarter of them was won by Alexander Song alone. Of all the tackles he made, the Cameroonian lost only one. FPL-wise, Song comes in at 5.5m, and as a defender, so will picks up the points for any clean sheets, too. Bandwagon, anyone?

Partnering Song is Neves Denilson, whose brilliant 25 yarder opened the floodgates on Saturday. Calm, neat, composed, the value of the little Brazilian is illustrated perfectly by this chalkboard.

Out of the 45 passes he made, 44 were successful (98%). Arsenal made a total of 419 passes, 349 of which were successful, which drops considerably to 83%. Denilson, coming in at 7.0 in FPL, missed only one league game last term and for such consistency in both selection and performance, should be one for your watchlists at the very least.