Arsenal dominated the game and could have come away with six or seven to show for all their efforts. Boss Arsene Wenger was naturally delighted with his sides performance. Wenger said: "We had a difficult first half and they defended really well. The decisive moment came when their player got sent-off and we scored a goal straight away. In the second half I never doubted the outcome of the game. It is important they all score because it gives them all confidence. Thierry Henry had one of his best games in an Arsenal shirt."

We could have opened the scoring after just five minutes. Ray Parlour broke away down the right before cutting the ball back for Thierry Henry. Henry struck a first time shot which had City keeper Nicky Weaver well and truly beaten, but the ball just fell the wrong side of the post. Henry was involved in the heart of the action again on 15 minutes when he laid the ball to Pires on the edge of the penalty area. Pires made space for himself before firing in a blistering drive which Weaver superbly tipped away diving away to his left.

And just a minute later Henry broke away down the left-hand side and played a perfect cross in for Pires, but the French winger's diving header just fell wide. City found it hard to get out of their own half as Arsenal continued to mount pressure and attempt to break the deadlock.

The home side suffered a blow when Pires had to leave the field injured with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Frederick Ljungberg. But the change didn't seem to affect a rampant looking Arsenal side.

City were reduced to ten men on 43 minutes when defender Danny Tiatto was dismissed for a second bookable offence after bringing down Henry who was clean through on goal. From the resulting free-kick, Bergkamp laid the ball across for Ashley Cole who fired a sweet left-foot drive past Weaver into the bottom left hand corner to finally put us into the lead. We came out after the interval looking to put the game beyond City and doubled our lead on 52 minutes. Ljungberg played a clever back-heel into the path of Bergkamp on the edge of the box. The Dutch striker hit a first-time shot which flew past Weaver into the bottom left-hand corner.

City should have pulled themselves back into the game on 65 minutes. Former Gunners star Paul Dickov played the perfect ball in for his strike partner Shaun Goater. But Goater somehow managed to put the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Arsenal made a double substitution replacing Parlour and Oleg Luzhny with Lee Dixon and Sylvain Wiltord. And Wiltord almost scored with his first touch of the game on 70 minutes seeing his goalbound shot cleared off the line by Mark Kennedy. But Wiltord made no mistake on 76 minutes grabbing Arsenal's third of the game. Henry played the perfect through-ball for Wiltord to strike a left foot shot through the legs of Weaver. Wiltord then repaid the favour for Henry making sure he got it on the act on 83 minutes. Wiltord played the ball into the French striker who brought the ball down inside the penalty box before turning to fire a half-volley past Weaver. And Henry grabbed his second of the game and Arsenal's fifth on 88 minutes when he collected another Wiltord pass to chip the ball over the advancing Weaver to wrap up a comfortable victory for Wenger's side.