There are a few things that can be regarded as predictable in football. Many clubs will complain about an injury crisis before the first ball is even kicked. Some commentators will suggest that the fledgling season will be Spurs’ year, and all of the promoted teams will be written off as certain relegation fodder before the first whistle is blown.

Each season is built up in a very similar way to the previous eight months of action, but everything is thrown up into the air after the first competitive ninety minutes of action. The lack of certainty is probably why many of us are attracted to the game. In the days of muddy pitches and spluttering floodlights, you (just about) knew what you would get when catching an Arsenal game. Those days seem so long ago.

Before 3pm on Saturday 15th August, the general narrative, which groaned into my ears, went something like this. ‘Manchester United are going to win the championship even though they have lost Cristiano Ronaldo. Liverpool are slightly short without Xabi Alonso but will be there or thereabouts. Chelsea are an ageing squad but should be second in the league. Manchester City will break into the top four as a result of their chequebook. Arsenal would struggle all season as a result of their lack of transfer activity, and the general physical and mental vulnerability of the team.’

As the results came in on the Saturday evening, there was a certain amount of smug satisfaction across my face. Arsenal had re-established themselves in people’s minds. I appreciate that little can be read into the first game of the season and Arsenal were facing a scarily disorientated Everton. However I sense that this 6-1 victory for the Gunners was a statement of intent by a team that has been generally written off by most pundits and the great British public. No one will match Manchester City with their vast stash of fivers but Arsenal can not be written off in any title race.

I was pleased to see that during this game, Arsenal played football in a style that remains puzzling for many outsiders. There remains a general anathema to anything other than the long ball game that defined many editions of ITV’s Big Match Live from the 1980s. Arsenal’s flowing football has become more acceptable in people’s minds because we are exposed to more European football than ever before. When Arsenal are on song, their football is a sight to behold, like the setting sun over a tropical beach with a little drop of rum in your glass. That match was the perfect start to this World Cup season!

Will this result define Arsenal’s season? The 6-1 score line prevented the headlines that the Gunners were missing Emmanuel Adebayor or Kolo Toure, and the Arsenal fans had witnessed the gutting of the team, like a fishmonger gutting a wet bit of Dover Sole. The result also prevented the talk that Wenger had lost his football mind, and had become obsessed with seeking to win everything that football has to offer, with a collective of random and unknown youngsters, plucked from various youth leagues across the world.

If the £10 million Thomas Vermaelen had endured a dreadful debut in English football within the uncompromising surroundings of Goodison Park, he would have been castigated as a symbol of the decline of Arsenal. Vermaelen was the best defender on show and could bring a little bit of welcome steel to the vulnerable back line of previous season. Vermaelen’s performance made the £30 million valuation of Joleon Lescott seem as good a value as buying a second hand Ford Orion from the most dodgy of outlets around Hackney, with the dubious assurance that this car was a ‘good little motor.’

When watching Eduardo score the sixth goal to round off the afternoon for Arsenal, it seemed to be a perfect little bit of icing on the cake. Having faced an injury saga that cruelly prevented the football public enjoying his talent on the British stage for too long, it was great to see this player having a chance of action. Of course, if Eduardo had not scored, there would have been some vociferous whispers that had this player sadly lost his touch as a result of those horrific injuries.

Will there be more from Arsenal this season? Many players will be using their Arsenal appearances to cement their positions in the international teams. 6-1 will not happen every week, and there will be some matches that climax in multiple arm movements from the touchline, Fabregas hiding his face in the shirt, and further talk that Arsenal are finished as a top four force. On those occasions, Arsenal will need to prove those doubters wrong, in a similarly comprehensive fashion to how this team demolished against Everton on this memorable first day of the 2009-2010 Premiership season.