What happened in Everton away end speaks volumes during heavy defeat at Arsenal

The result of Everton's remarkable heroics against Crystal Palace was that the final day of this long, traumatic season meant next to nothing.

Yes, there were some meaningful narratives - Dele Alli made his first start since becoming a Blue, Tom Davies sealed his remarkable fight back from injury by starting, and Cenk Tosun and Donny van de Beek featured in a matchday squad for what will almost certainly be the last time. This was also the last outing for Everton in Cazoo-branded kit, with a new sponsor set to be announced over the summer.

But in truth, as the sun shone on the Emirates, there was little riding on this game for the visitors. And the relief among the thousands who still made the journey was obvious.

The fear and anxiety was gone. The tension had disappeared from the faces of the dedicated travelling support. It was no longer a feature of their conversations - the talk among those on the train south was of the individual memories of Thursday's collective celebrations, not of final day permutations and whether Newcastle United or Brentford could 'do Everton a favour'.

The importance of Everton having already secured their Premier League status could not have been made any clearer by the 90 minutes that played out in north London. For weeks the talk among agony-ridden Blues has been of an insistence the season could not go down to the final game. They were right.

Yes, Lampard made a host of changes inspired by the context of the match. And the removal of jeopardy no doubt contributed to events on the pitch. But an Arsenal side that may have held only a slight belief in its chances of a top four finish at the start of the game, and which would have had all hope extinguished by rivals Tottenham Hotspur