I’ll keep this brief. The game doesn’t warrant an extended review. It was 92 minutes of mediocrity followed by 60 seconds of desire. Arsenal were so poor that Everton actually shaded possession! That’s right, the team that lets the opposition have the ball!

Everton’s goal was the result of bone idle marking at a throw-in near the corner flag. Arsenal found themselves outnumbered as Alex Song stood in acres of space looking on at the triangle being played around two of his colleagues before Hibbert had all the time in the world to cross for Cahill. It was rank bad defending. Alex Song should be given his cards now. He is a disgrace.

The equaliser was unlikely, but let’s be thankful for small mercies. Diaby did probably the only decent thing he managed all game. An excellent flighted ball to Van Persie, which was dispatched with venom. Arsenal created one other seriously decent chance all match, which Denilson managed to sky over the bar. It was the kind of chance Robert Pires used to have for breakfast from the edge of the area. But those days are long, long gone.

Somehow, despite consistently playing some of the worst football seen under Arsene Wenger, the team have gone on a run of nine Premier League games unbeaten. It started well enough with the performance against Chelsea, but since then, pick out the decent displays from the matches with Wigan, Boro, Liverpool, Villa, Pompey, Bolton, Hull and now Everton.

And it’s not as if the other teams in the top six are losing many. Drawing plenty, but Arsenal need to win every game – the manager himself said so a week or so back – to have any kind of a shout in the title race. Well, that’s out of the window now (as if it was ever likely) so let’s knuckle down, improve the football and give the fans a decent chance of a top four finish and Champions League football next season.

It’s tough at the moment to see the team struggling so badly, knowing there’s no money to spend. Arsenal are obviously desperate for players but can’t afford to buy them or pay them – at least until some of the existing clowns are let go to free up some of the £100m per year spent on salaries (although I still can’t get my head around that figure).

In isolation, a draw at Goodison is a respectable result. In the flesh, I don’t doubt it was torture. Not much to warm the memories on the long trip home, but at least RVP gave the travelling fans something to cheer about. The Dutch master has become like Ian Wright circa 1993-1995. The only bugger likely to score in a team where imagination has died. I’d like to say I’m counting the hours until the West Ham game. I’d like to…