Jack Rodwell vowed to fight hard for a regular start after regaining his first-team place at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The 17-year-old was thrown in for the Toffees’ first three games of the campaign but has subsequently made way for summer signings Marouane Fellaini and Segundo Castillo.

But the midfielder grasped his chance to tackle Arsenal with both hands, earning rave reviews from manager David Moyes. He's now hoping to keep his place for the visit of Manchester United this weekend.

“I was more excited than nervous,” Rodwell told evertonTV. “Coming to the Emirates - it is a fantastic stadium, and Arsenal is one of the biggest games of the season.

“It was brilliant to be involved. I have just got to keep working hard in training and we will see what happens.”

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Despite Rodwell’s stellar performance, Everton were powerless to prevent a fine second-half comeback from the Gunners.

Trailing 1-0 at the break to Leon Osman’s goal, Arsene Wenger’s side hit back through Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott.

Rodwell was impressed by the Blues’ first-half resolve but conceded they eventually succumbed to the better side.

“As a team we were brilliant in the first half,” he said. “We defended well - obviously got the goal - but then when Arsenal came out attacking in the second half they were very hard to play against.

“They were always going to come out attacking but we found it hard to keep the ball whereas they found it very easy and it looked like Arsenal were always going to score.

“Every one of their players pass it then move so they are hard to track. Their manager has got them working together and all on the same wavelength.”

See highlights and exclusive match reaction with David Moyes, Leon Osman and Jack on evertonTV now.

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