Everton and Arsenal have played out a 1-1 draw in an entertaining encounter at Goodison Park.

© PA Photos

It took Theo Walcott a matter of seconds to open the scoring, as he latched onto Aaron Ramsey's through-ball before chipping over Tim Howard.

The Blues reacted well to going a goal down, and nearly drew level in the 23rd minute.

Steven Naismith and Marouane Fellaini combined well, with the latter finding himself with the ball at his feet inside the area. However, he was closed down by Per Mertesacker as he was about to pull the trigger.

It was Fellaini who grabbed Everton's equaliser in the 27th minute, firing low past Wojciech Szczesny and into the bottom corner.

© PA Photos

The teams went in level at the break, but the Pole was called into action soon after to make two saves in quick succession, first from Steven Pienaar and then from Sylvain Distin's close-range header.

As the game wore on, the Gunners began to have more of the ball. Aaron Ramsey went close with a strike from distance, while Santi Cazorla forced a save from Howard.

The next big chance fell to Olivier Giroud, who was picked out by Walcott's cross, but Howard managed to save the Frenchman's header.

Everton had a glorious chance to snatch all three points in the last minute of normal time when Fellaini was inches away from connecting with Nikica Jelavic's cross.