Clouds build over Taylor

Arsenal 4 Leicester City

Tucked inside yesterday's match programme was an advert for the Arsenal credit card. "Help us build the future," read the message above an imaginary final League table for the 2020-21 season. In it, Arsenal were predictably top by more than 30 points, whereas yesterday's visitors, Leicester City, were in a respectable 14th place. Nice to see that the Highbury folk have not lost their sense of humour.

Leicester will be lucky to finish this season in the bottom teens if they continue to leak goals at such an alarming rate (nine in two games). For the record, they also failed to hit a single shot on target, and had Dennis Wise sent off for the 12th time of his career.

At the other end, two strikes in each half ­ from Fredrik Ljungberg and Sylvain Wiltord in the first, then the substitutes Thierry Henry and Nwankwo Kanu in the second ­ helped condemn the Foxes to their second straight defeat and further jeopardise their manager's position.

Peter Taylor's fall from grace has been alarmingly quick, not to mention brutal. Two losses, albeit comprehensive ones, do not a season make, but that has not stopped certain people, including several of the club's directors, from hunting down the head fox. On Friday, Taylor said he knew results would have to improve if he was to keep his job for much longer. On yesterday's evidence, his 15-month tenure could be about to end.

"I hope not," he said, "because this is a challenge I want to do. The first-day defeat knocked the stuffing out of the players but we're better than we've shown and I have no doubt we'll turn it around."

Taylor is a likeable man and, whatever his team's deficiencies, nobody deserves to lose their job before the month of August is out. But Leicester did not play well. Worse still, they did not even seem to try. The heat may have played its part, but that alone cannot explain why they appeared so lacking in desire, let alone skill and organisation.

"Their confidence is low," the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, conceded. "Once we went 2-0 up, they didn't look like they could come back."

The sight of Sol Campbell in an Arsenal shirt still takes some getting used to, although the Gunners' defence was never going to be the main talking point. Having let in five on the opening day at home to newly-promoted Bolton, the Leicester rearguard were always likely to be the busier of the two. In fact, it took all of 45 seconds for Tim Flowers to be beaten by Dennis Bergkamp. The Dutchman collected the ball on the edge of the area and curled a shot inches wide of the diving keeper and, thankfully for Leicester, the post as well. Understandably, Taylor was up from his seat to deliver the first of several heated rebukes.

Leicester spent the first 15 minutes pinned back in their own half, seemingly with the sole aim of spoiling the home side's attacks. Then, on the few occasions when they did win the ball, they were incapable of holding on to it. The Foxes looked lost, and it was no surprise when they eventually went behind.

The goal was simplicity itself, with the Leicester defence guilty of amateurish marking. Robert Pires, who was again given the freedom to roam in midfield, took possession on the right touchline, exchanged passes with Wiltord inside the Leicester box and then delivered a pinpoint cross which Ljungberg side-footed into the net. Too easy.

If the Leicester faithful had hoped the early goal would kick-start their team into action, they were sorely mistaken. Instead, the visitors retreated even further into their shells. Did they think that Arsenal would sit back and settle for the 1-0 win? A decade ago perhaps, but Wenger's team are a lot more attack-minded, and the Gunners were always going to continue pouring forward. They did so with even greater gusto, and their positive efforts were soon rewarded with a second goal.

The move was not too dissimilar to the one that led to the opener, as Pires latched on to a delightful Bergkamp back-heel into the Leicester area before offering Wiltord the easiest of conversions from three yards. Less than half-an-hour gone, and already the game was won. It said much that every Arsenal pass until half-time was greeted with anOlé from the sun-basked Highbury crowd.

After the break, Leicester just got worse. Their passing got sloppier, their heads dropped lower and their tackles got nastier. Arsenal were running rings around them, and you sensed it was only a matter of time before they would lose their rag.

Inevitably, it was Wise who saw red first, after needlessly provoking Patrick Vieira by deciding to trot over and get involved after the Frenchman had been fouled by the Leicester substitute Damien Delaney, leading to an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. The referee, Andy D'Urso, might have issued warnings, but he decided instead to show Wise a straight red and Vieira a second yellow, to initiate the Frenchman's eighth dismissal in an Arsenal shirt. "I want the referee to have another look," Taylor said. "The last thing we need at the moment is to lose Dennis."

So far as Arsenal were concerned, it mattered little. At 10 against 10, they continued to dominate proceedings until Henry saw his shot deflect off Lee Marshall for the Gunners' third, and Kanu scored the easiest of diving headers in injury time for their fourth.

Arsenal were barely breaking sweat ­ some achievement in what Wenger described as "African" heat.

Arsenal 4 Leicester City 0

Ljungberg 17, Wiltord 28, Henry 77, Kanu 90

Half-time: 2-0 Attendance: 37,909