Fellaini levels to keep Fortress Goodison intact

It was another draw away from home but, in contrast to Saturday's rainswept stalemate at Villa Park, Arsenal's travelling supporters did not ask if their manager knew what he was doing.

There used to be a banner at Highbury that said simply "Arsène Knows" and Wenger would be all too familiar with the fact that these days points at Goodison Park are hard earned – they were last beaten at home in March, by Arsenal – and, despite taking the lead before some of the crowd had taken their seats, Arsenal did not deserve more.

For David Moyes, this was Everton's sixth draw in their last eight fixtures but it was far more encouraging. With matches against Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea to come, the flow of Everton's season is about to become trickier. Last night suggested it can be navigated.

Wenger has said that Arsenal's future lies with young British footballer – maybe to placate Theo Walcott into signing a fresh contract, but it was borne out before the game was a minute old. The finish was Walcott's – a sublime shot, struck with the side of his foot into the corner of Tim Howard's net – but it was made by Aaron Ramsey. The young Welshman ran diagonally at Everton's defence and then, as they anticipated a through-ball pushed out wide, he played it inside to Walcott who finished exceptionally.

At 52 seconds it was the quickest goal of the Premier League season – a record until just after kick-off at Old Trafford a quarter of an hour later.

Almost immediately, Wenger brought on another young British talent in the shape of Kieran Gibbs as Laurent Koscielny pulled up with an injury. Everton ensured he and the rest of the Arsenal back-four had every chance to show their quality.

Marouane Fellaini, left, is Belgian rather than British but he is someone coveted by Wenger and on 28 minutes he showed just why. Bacary Sagna's loose pass to Mikel Arteta allowed Steven Pienaar to dispossess his former team-mate and feed Fellaini, whose shot from the edge of the area rifled past Wojciech Szczesny into the bottom corner. This was his seventh goal of the season and he said that even at Standard Liège he had never scored more than nine.

Before the hour was up Everton should have scored at least one more. The best chance saw Nikica Jelavic, having cleverly dinked the ball over Per Mertesacker, drive it somewhere among his own supporters.