Arsenal vs. Everton: 5 Things Both Sides Learned in the 1-0 Gunners Win

Arsenal marked their 125th anniversary with a 1-0 Premier League win over Everton at the Emirates to move themselves into the Champions League places of the table for the first time this season, piling pressure on Chelsea ahead of their fixture in hand against Manchester City.

The Gunners controlled large parts of the first half and cut open the Everton defence three or four times with passes through the centre, but were unable to take the lead despite opportunities for Aaron Ramsey and Gervinho in particular.

With the home crowd looking for inspiration from their players as the interval came up goalless, it was in fact Everton who took a bit more initiative in the second period as they finally looked to trouble the Gunners' back line.

However, just as the Toffees looked like they had played their way into the game, a fine strike from Robin van Persie put Arsenal in front and they never looked like losing their lead after that.

It was a tough test for the Gunners, one which they could have won more comfortably, but in the end they will be happy to have emerged from with a clean sheet and three points.

Here are five things both sides learned at the Emirates.

Theo Walcott Impressing Again

He neither scored nor claimed an assist today, but Theo Walcott could have easily done both had Aaron Ramsey or Gervinho been able to finish a neat cross and Tim Howard not beaten away a sharp effort on goal in the second half.

Other than that, Walcott ran Leighton Baines silly at times and was the home side's biggest threat, whether on counter-attacks in the second half or with his good movement off the ball in the first.

When he switched flanks briefly he wandered infield with the ball and won a dangerous free kick for his team, but playing on the right he was a constant outlet for Arsenal, which was all the more important given the lack of width offered by their makeshift full-backs.

On this form, a place in England's Euro 2012 squad should beckon.

Everton's Utterly Toothless Attack No Trouble for Arsenal

Unsurprisingly, there was no photo of Louis Saha available from the game against Arsenal.

The reason is likely because he barely touched the ball before being substituted in the 64th minute.

Isolated and lacking in decent movement, the French forward was unable to have any kind of impact on the game and never looked like giving Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny a tough time.

Not that it was all Saha's fault of course. A midfield of Phil Neville and Marouane Fellaini was hardly aggressive in getting forward to support their teammate, while Tim Cahill's career has taken an abrupt downward turn over the past twelve months, especially in goal-scoring terms.

When David Moyes replaced Saha with centre-back Sylvain Distin, it was with the aim of pairing the more aerially-threatening Cahill with Fellaini in positions nearer the Arsenal goal; the problem was the ball hardly ever got there.

A very poor display in attack from Everton last week against Stoke was followed by an even worse one here against Arsenal.

No goals in their past two games is not a surprise—and top scorer Apostolos Vellios didn't even make it off the bench.

Lack of Full-Backs for Arsenal a Cause for Concern

With all four full-backs sidelined through injury, Arsene Wenger lined up with four central defenders against Everton: Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker and Thomas Vermaelen.

Though the quartet kept a clean sheet today, at the other end they were conspicuous by their absence as they failed to offer any attacking support, overlapping or deliver any kind of crosses.

Fine for today, but with games coming thick and fast over the Christmas period—Manchester City are up next for the Gunners—will they have enough in the final third without the additional support of attacking full-backs?

Bacary Sagna is sidelined until the new year with a broken leg, Andre Santos is out for three weeks with an injury sustained in midweek, Carl Jenkinson is out for the foreseeable future with a stress fracture and Keiron Gibbs has a hernia.

David Moyes: Running out of Ideas?

After several years of "punching above their weight", "working miracles with no money" and "doing better than any other manager could do" (all copyright English press parrots), let's face it: David Moyes and Everton are pretty woeful to watch.

Dreadful in fact.

They are steady enough in defence, it is true. Only 18 goals conceded in 14 games, which isn't awful for a bottom-half side.

But in attack? In midfield? Utter rubbish.

They created hardly anything against Arsenal, following on from an inept display against Stoke City at home and managed just one shot on target in the whole 90 minutes.

He started with a lone striker (Louis Saha) and ended up taking him off with half an hour to go to replace him with a central defender. Neither Apostolos Vellios, their top scorer with three goals, nor loan striker Denis Stracqualursi managed to even get off the bench.

For much of this season, Moyes hasn't even gone into games with a recognised forward on the pitch.

And it's not even as if Everton have a team full of free transfers.

Leighton Baines cost £5 million from Wigan, with another £1 million in add-ons. Louis Saha cost around £3 million, Marouane Fellaini was signed for a whopping £15 million from Standard Liege, Tim Howard cost £3 million, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov cost a huge £9 million...the list goes on.

David Moyes is seemingly unable to stimulate his Everton team this season into anything resembling a decent footballing side.

They won't go down, they won't even be in danger of it...but I certainly wouldn't want to be shelling out every week to watch the garbage they've been serving up recently and passing off as football.

Mikel Arteta Inconsistency a Problem over the Longer Term

One good game, one average game.

That has been the story of much of Mikel Arteta's short time at Arsenal so far and against former club Everton, it was a case of the latter as he struggled to impose himself against his old teammates.

Loose in possession too often and not dominant with the ball, he lacks the real physical presence to be a major force in midfield at times.

Arteta is capable of defence-splitting passes when on his game, but the second half of this match bypassed him entirely.

If Arteta is to have a good career at Arsenal he needs to offer much more on a more consistent basis.

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov: What Is He For?

Midway through his third season in England, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov has yet to really prove that he is capable of anything of any value.

As a winger, he is fairly fast, he has a bit of skill, but he cannot cross, doesn't track runners particularly well and isn't exactly one of the finest in the division at making space off the ball.

Playing on the opposite flank and coming in on his favoured left foot, he isn't very good at shooting, isn't aggressive enough in getting himself in advanced positions and rarely causes too many problems for his opponent.

How about in behind the forward, where he has played this season a couple of times? Well, nothing we haven't mentioned already really: sub-standard vision and execution of passing coupled with his poor movement off the ball make him an even worse option in this position than in wide areas.

All told, the Russian midfielder is a desperately poor player for Everton to be relying on.

And considering he cost very close to £9 million, he has not produced any kind of return really, certainly not with any regularity, to suggest that he was a good signing, or even an average one, is ridiculous.

Nine goals in 74 matches is hardly stand-out and in his two and a half seasons he has given his club next to nothing in terms of real, reliable ability.

Arsene Wenger Says It Best: Arsenal Are Reliant on Robin

Arsene Wenger knows it, Robin van Persie knows it, most of the entire footballing world knows it:

Arsenal are overly-reliant on Van the Man.

19 goals this season in all competitions and 33 for the calender year, suggest that perhaps they can afford to be—for now.

But what happens if and when van Persie gets a knock, one too many yellow cards or just plain old runs out of goals for a fair few matches?

Gervinho and Theo Walcott will no doubt reach double figures for the season, but can anybody else in an Arsenal shirt realistically get close to 20 for the season, or even 15? I would think probably not.

That is something Arsene Wenger will have to remedy if they are to challenge for honours throughout the season.

Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines Need to Move on To Be Tested

Both Everton defenders Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka will harbour ambitions of being included in England's 23-man squad for the Euro 2012 Championships next summer.

As the backup to Ashley Cole, Baines should be more or less secure in making the plane, but Jagielka faces a bit more of a battle to make it as he faces competition from the likes of John Terry, Gary Cahill, Phil Jones, possibly Rio Ferdinand and Chris Smalling and anyone else who pushes themselves into the frame between now and the end of the season.

If either player wants to experience international football on a regular basis or test themselves on the European stage with any regularity, they need to move on and find a new club.

Both are capable of playing at club level in Europe, but they will not get that regularly with Everton in its present state.

Arsenal Break into the Top Four—and Will Be Very Difficult to Dislodge

A 1-0 win for the Gunners was enough to lift them into the Top Four of the Premier League for the first time this season, and that, as much as the clean sheet and the win itself, will delight Arsene Wenger.

After the dreadful start to the season his team has revitalised the on-field results to such an extent that they have overtaken Liverpool, Newcastle and now Chelsea, to occupy fourth place and the final Champions League spot.

Of course, there is a long, long way to go yet and at some point Arsenal will have their customary blip—but they will not shift easily from a Top Four spot.

Chelsea should be worried.

Big Fixtures Coming Up to Shape Everton's Season

Following the Emirates defeat by one goal to nil, Everton lie 12th in the table with one game in hand.

In the run up to the Christmas period they face three games which they will consider winnable, but they need to be more proactive in looking for the points instead of hoping they can hold out for an hour and then throw a couple of tall players forward to sneak an undeserved goal.

Home matches against promoted duo Norwich City (9th) and Swansea City (11th) are followed by a Boxing Day clash away to Sunderland (18th)—all games which Everton should feel confident about. Even if they don't claim a full compliment of nine points, it is not unreasonable to suggest they should take seven from those three games.

That would put the Toffees back in contention for a top-eight placing, about as high as any of the mid-table teams can aim now this season.

Should they continue their wretched play over the last two games, of course, they can fully expect to get punished by an open-playing and attack-minded Norwich side and Swansea City, who love to hold on to the ball and, similar to Arsenal, wait their chance to break down the opposition.

In that case, David Moyes and his players will be looking at a long winter languishing anywhere around the 14th-16th positions in the league and perhaps starting to look nervously over their shoulders.