Fair play to the Sunderland fans. In singing "one nil, in the second half" they were celebrating a real achievement.

But once again the match as a whole was over as a contest within 10 minutes of kick-off.

Kanu poached the first in the 3rd minute, after Sorensen had kept out an inswinging corner from Henry only for it to bounce to Kanu inside the 6 yard box. He reached up with one of those huge feet and prodded it home past the ranks of the Sunderland defence who were sprawled along the goal line.

And on about 9 minutes he made it 2. This time it came at the end of a long period of Arsenal possession. Lots of movement, lots of accurate first-time passing, the ball moving quickly from one side of the pitch to the other (this basically is a description of most of the game)... Eventually Wiltord on the left passed forward for Ljungberg, whose delicious backheel left the ball perfectly in Ashley Cole's path. Ash took it forward to the corner of the box and chipped a cross beyond the far post where Kanu was waiting to power his header just below the crossbar.

Having been critical of Kanu for his lethargy in the Bolton game and coming awake only (!) to score the injury-time winner, I must take this opportunity to add my voice to those pointing out how well he is now playing. It came as no surprise that his 2-goal display won the "fans vote" man of the match award, but my vote would have gone to Pascal Cygan.

I don't think I've ever seen a defender, especially a centre back, fit into a side so quickly. We've seen his defensive qualities already, but in this match it was his superb distribution which came to the fore. Time and time again he sprayed the ball forward perfectly, and he even went on a rampaging run forward, exchanging quick passes as he went and winning a corner. If he ends up scoring a few goals it'll be a bonus, but already he looks like challenging Gilberto for "buy of the summer". Martin Keown may be understandably concerned for his place.

There was a long break in play after Henry went up for a Kanu cross with Sorenson and the Sunderland defender Craddock. The Danish keeper ended up being stretchered off with a suspected dislocated elbow.

Typically, Arsenal took their foot off the pedal a little once they felt the game was won. But the result never looked in danger, especially once Vieira got the 3rd in the dying seconds of the first half.

Henry at last let someone else take a free-kick, having (once again) failed to get an earlier effort on target. This one, a few yards outside the box slightly to left of centre, was touched to Wiltord who drove it low through the defence. Myrhe (Sorensens's replacement) may have seen it late. He got down and stopped it, but it rebounded up onto the head of the Arsenal skipper who had been the only player to react, and Paddy placed his header over the stricken keeper.

Sunderland's best attack of the first half came from a dangerous cross from their right wing, which Campbell and Lauren did well to clear. The cross had come from Sylvain Wiltord, perhaps deciding that Sunderland needed to be given a chance, perhaps confused by the fact that the Arsenal fans had for the last few minutes started cheering every successful pass made by the opposition!

Second half: more of the same. Plenty of Arsenal possession but a little less motivation than would be required to turn it into a rout. Craddock popped up to convert a good cross from their left, for a consolation goal with 8 minutes to go. The biggest cheer the visitors got all day was from the Arsenal fans when Niall Quinn came on (replacing Tore Andre Flo who just didn't look the same player we remember from his Chelsea days).

Henry played well with his touches and passing, but also looked like he might be protecting that hamstring (less explosive with his pace than usual). He came off towards the end in a triple substitution together with Freddie and Wiltord, with Jeffers, Edu and Toure coming on. Given Henry's injury doubt I'd have liked to see Jeffers given a bit longer. He didn't do very well in the time he was on, but Kanu's recent showings prove that strikers sometimes need to play first, before they can perform. Rumour is that someone will come in for him in the transfer window. Arsenal don't need to sell, but Jeffers may feel that he needs to be somewhere where he'll get more time on the pitch.

Those Arsenal fans who were singing "you'll never play here again", had presumably not seen the draw for the Worthless Cup.

For Record-Breakers fans, today's result means we've now got the longest unbeaten sequence in the Premiership with 30 (overtaking Man Utd on 29). The next major target is Newcastle's Premiership record of 14 consecutive home wins (we're on 12, which according to the Telegraph is a new club record... anyone have details of the previous longest run?).

Fittingly, if we equal Newcastle's record we will do it against Newcastle (just as when we equalled Man City's record for scoring in consecutive top-flight games a few matches ago, we did it against City).