The last 20 minutes or so of Everton vs Arsenal had the prospect of nervy ending written all over it.
David Ospina was injured - though insisted that he remain on the pitch. On the bench was callow 21-year-old Matt Macey, it seemed inevitable that Everton would score. It's a situation which has become all too familiar with Arsenal. The goal did not come, and that really was a surprise.
What was not a surprise - pre-match - was Paul Merson deriding the lack of abrasive players such as Roy Keane at the Emirates.
It's certainly something we've heard Merson bang on about before - not without reason, either.
Merson related a story which Tony Cascarino had told him about Roy Keane on Friday's 'The Fantasy Football Club'. Walking down a beach while on international duty, Keane told Cascarino that when he stepped into the Man Utd training ground on a Monday, he could never be sure who would be upset with him. Merson believes there to be a deficit of such characters at Arsenal.
Also, in a perfectly believable scenario, Merson imagined every Arsenal player turning up the birthday party of a teammate's two-year-old - no questions asked and fully involved in the celebrations.
