Arsenal delight in Keegan's day of calamity

Manchester City 1 Arsenal 5

Having reminded Manchester what they are made of when easing to victory at Old Trafford in the FA Cup last Saturday, Arsenal's strolling players romped home on the other side of town yesterday, extending their lead at the top of the Premiership to five points over Sir Alex Ferguson's United.

At Maine Road two years ago, with Joe Royle's City on the way to relegation, Arsène Wenger's side led 4-0 after 36 minutes; yesterday it took barely half that time, thanks to some dazzling attacking in the face of laughable defending. The champions' passing was bulls-eye accurate and their movement off the ball almost too quick to follow – certainly so for Kevin Keegan's troops.

Thierry Henry's pace left scorch marks on the pitch, Keegan having been foolish enough to have selected the lumbering Richard Dunne to mark him. It was the most uneven contest seen since the Irishman tried to take on Marc Overmars at Highbury some years ago. Arsenal thrashed Everton that day and City were on the receiving end of similar treatment until Nicolas Anelka poached a goal against his first English club just before the finish.

It was a consolation they deserved. Typically their spirit was undiminished and a game second-half performance earned the cheers of an impressively loyal crowd at the final whistle, followed by a standing ovation for Arsenal. Wenger's men will be popular champions again on Moss Side.

"We've played an exceptional side here today," Keegan said. "I think they'll win the Champions' League. I decided we'd try to play them, take them on. But they were on a different planet for the first 20 minutes."

So harsh was the lesson that the relentlessly optimistic and ambitious manager was even forced to refine his target of a top-six finish: "I might have to set my sights a little bit lower – seventh maybe."

Dream on, it is tempting to add. Unrealistic ambition is a fault he shares with previous City managers, fuelled by supporters' desire to hold their heads up alongside the red half of Manchester. They had been able to do so since the deserved draw at Old Trafford in the previous Premiership match, underlining the fact that in general, and not untypically, their best performances had come against the better teams. So Arsenal might have felt they faced a test on their final visit to Maine Road, where over 80,000 once watched them play a League game.

Keegan's decision to bring back Dunne for the suspended Sylvain Distin hardly boosted confidence in the defence's capacity to resist Henry and co, and so it proved. The idea seemed to be that Sun Jihai dropped back to the right of the ponderous Irishman as soon as danger threatened, turning a basic 3-5-2 into 4-4-2. That was the theory, anyway; as so often in City's case, practice proved something else.

In only the fourth minute, Sun rashly assumed that three defenders would manage between them to pick up Dennis Bergkamp as Lauren threaded a pass into the penalty area. Dunne was not even looking and the Dutchman, unmarked, side-footed past Carlo Nash.

Worse, much worse, was to follow. In the 12th minute Dunne's attempted clearance went straight to Henry, who accelerated effortlessly past him along the byeline and cut the ball back for Robert Pires to knock in. Three more minutes and a third goal: this time the build-up was as basic as a long free-kick from Martin Keown, allowed to reach Henry, whose left foot drove it low into the far corner of the net.

Anelka, managing to stay onside for once, cut inside and shot over the bar but the pattern was not interrupted for long. Henry went past Dunne again to win a corner, which he placed on Sol Campbell's head and it was 4-0 after 19 minutes.

Even the Maine Road crowd, who have seen some shambolic defensive performances in recent years, seemed a little taken aback by this one. To their credit, they continued to encourage the team and to insist: "Always look on the bright side of life". The bright side was presumably that Arsenal eased off for a while, Henry merely jabbing the ball straight at Nash in surprise as Lauren's cross fell at his feet.

For the second half Keegan took mercy on Dunne and ushered him towards the bath, bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips against his father's old club. Although not the world's most natural right-back, the youngster does at least have some pace and was able to break forward on the overlap.

As he did so, the first 10 minutes after the interval took on the shape of a basketball match, with the two sides attacking in manic fashion and looking likely to score each time. Anelka twice failed to do so at one end, Bergkamp and Henry finished too casually at the other, but another goal was always on the cards. In the 53rd minute, Patrick Vieira scored it, bursting through the middle on to Bergkamp's pass in another classic counter-attack.

By midway through the half, Wenger was thinking of the next assignment, replacing Bergkamp, Pires and Wiltord with Ray Parlour, Edu and Francis Jeffers.

City, for what is was worth, made most of the opportunities thereafter, Taylor earning his money and the plaudits of the Arsenal supporters behind him with good stops from Robbie Fowler, twice, Wright-Phillips, twice, and an otherwise subdued Eyal Berkovic. "England's number one," they chanted, which must have given Seaman pause for thought. He was finally beaten just before the end, Anelka tapping in from Fowler's low cross as Keown appealed for an offside decision.

"I told the players at half-time that it was not over," said Wenger. "If City made it 4-1 or 4-2 they could come back. So the fifth goal was important. We played some fluent football, kept our concentration and did a professional job. City are a good side going forward." He was too polite to say anything about their defence.

Manchester City 1 Arsenal 5
Anelka 87; Bergkamp 4, Pires 12, Henry 15, Campbell 19, Vieira 53

Half-time: 0-4 Attendance: 34,960