Arsenal blew Middlesbrough away this afternoon, and the goal difference took us to the top of the table on alphabetical order.

Henry made it 1-0 after about 5 minutes with a tap-in after Schwarzer's diving save could only knock Freddie's cross/shot into his path.

Gilberto got the second after a great pass from midfield put Pires clear on the left. He took the ball deep and took his time about playing the ball in. It gave Boro time to get back despite the initial pace of the break, but he spotted Gilberto's run from midfield and chipped the ball over to meet him just inside the box. Gilberto whacked it first time as it dropped, giving the keeper no chance. An excellent way to dispel the memories of his goof last weekend. Maybe I'll have to stop calling for Parlour or Edu to play in his place! It does sometimes take a season for a new boy to bed in, so let's hope this is the season Gilberto comes into his own.

Wiltord's cool finish for the third was sublime, raising a foot near goal to turn a chipped cross inside the far post. But it was easy to ignore the goalscorer's part in the goal, so delicious was that final pass from Henry. Facing a terrified pair of defenders on the left hand edge of the box, he casually lifted it towards Sylvain with the outside of his right boot. The hardest of skills made to look as easy as anything. After the game Henry practically apologised for not being quite up to scratch. Seems he's a bit unfit. God help Premiership defences.

Not surprisingly, Arsenal didn't go for the jugular in the second half. Having said that, they did continue to press for the ball and stop Boro getting back into it, so it never looked liked going the way of so many games in the last few seasons, when an apparently easy win has been thrown away.

Wiltord did grab another, a fast break created by Campbell's wonderful defence-splitting pass for Ljungberg to run onto. Boro may have had a claim for offside but I think it was Henry on the other side of the pitch rather than Freddie himself or indeed the goalscorer. Freddie took it down the inside right line and squared it unselfishly when he could easily have gone for goal. It was a bit behind Wiltord but he hooked it in under the bar.

To be fair to Boro, they must have been disappointed that Mendieta didn't get clearance to play in time for this one. Not only because they could have done with him on the pitch, but also becuase it meant he got to watch it from the stands. Second thoughts? They probably missed Ehiogu too, and Juninho looked a shadow of his former self. Still, they won't have to play Arsenal again for a while.

Early days of course, but it'd be no surprise to see the current top 3 put a bit of distance between themselves and the rest (see table). Will the visit of Villa on Wednesday be our first banana skin? Well, they were apparently the better side in their draw with Liverpool today. But Liverpool were crap against Chelsea in their previous game.