Toffees hit for six

The visitors were three ahead at the break through Denilson - from the edge of the box - and two headed goals from Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas.

Things got worse for the Toffees in the second period when Cesc Fabregas grabbed two for himself to underline an outstanding personal performance. Eduardo netted the sixth before Louis Saha scored a consolation goal in injury-time for Everton.

The first goal arrived after 26 minutes. Nicklas Bendtner surged in from the left before flicking a pass to Fabregas, who instantly turned the ball into Denilson's path. The pace of the move left Everton floundering, and the fine strike from the Brazilian from just outside the area dipped and curled into the top corner.

Arsenal were cutting through Everton and after 37 minutes they were two ahead. Robin Van Persie's free-kick from the right found Vermaelen beyond the far post, and the defender headed back into the bottom corner for a fine debut goal.

Everton's marking for that was dreadful, with Marouane Fellaini and Joseph Yobo seemingly at fault. But four minutes later when Gallas headed home another free-kick, this time from Fabregas, the defending was even worse.

Everton were shell-shocked, and it got worse three minutes after the interval. The Toffees were caught by a pitch-length move from Arsenal that ended with Fabregas cruising into the box to send his shot past Howard.

But Fabregas was not finished. After 69 minutes he collected a throw from Manuel Almunia and ran from inside his own half without facing a tackle to drive home the fifth.

Eduardo still had time to score the sixth, netting from close in after Andrey Arshavin's shot had come back off a post with two minutes to go.

Everton got a consolation in injury time when Saha netted after Steven Pienaar's shot had been blocked.