Arsenal go on rampage at Maine Road

It was nonetheless impressive that they could coast to such an emphatic win having made six changes from the side that beat Tottenham in last Sunday's FA Cup semi-final.

That fact would have been of little comfort to Royle, whose side were stripped as bare as the two streakers who provided some light relief.

Arsenal had killed the game before the pre-match pasties had been digested. City do not have the equipment to recover from an early three-goal deficit and Wenger held all the valuable cards.

His starting line-up was a mix of reserves and regulars. Fredrik Ljungberg, for instance, is now something of an understudy. But he was still good enough to contribute two goals in the first 16 minutes, both of them taken as easily as if it were a training-ground kickabout.

Ljungberg's goals were separated by one from Sylvain Wiltord, who showed why Wenger persisted in trying to bring him over from France at the start of this season.

Carlo Nash, a former male model given his chance to replace the shellshocked goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, was himself stripped bare by Arsenal's devastating opening.

A local Indian entrepreneur had promised Nash a free Indian meal for every clean sheet he kept with City. That incentive had disappeared after eight minutes. Ljungberg exposed the flaws in the City defence, taking a simple pass from Wiltord to score the easiest of goals with the marking embarrass-ingly absent.

Arsenal made it 2-0 within 60 seconds with Wiltord providing the finish as Richard Dunne failed to anticipate a cross from Ray Parlour. It was all so simple.

Any thoughts of a City comeback were banished as Ljungberg scored his second. This time he scored with a delightful chip over Nash after the City defence was caught square and Kanu threaded the ball through.

Royle deployed Gerard Wiekens in front of his shell-shocked back four but by then City's cause was lost. Ashley Cole joined the carnival in the 36th minute, providing the centre from the left which Steve Howey - not for the first time - failed to cut out, leaving Kanu the easiest of chances.

The second half became just an academic exercise, Arsenal going through the motions and City striving to raise themselves above the mediocre, an exercise in which they failed abjectly.

City did give themselves one chance to reduce their deficit. Mark Kennedy's centre from the left gave Paulo Wanchope a half-chance but Igors Stepanovs made a timely interception.

That was the only time City fans had anything to get excited about. They may be long-suffering in Moss Side but this was a performance to test the patience of the most ardent of City fans.