Arsenal:
               Lehmann
       Toure  Cygan  Campbell  Cole
Ljungberg  Edu  Pires (Hoyte 91) Clichy (Kanu 60)
    Bergkamp (Aliadiere 91)  Henry

The right-back problem was solved as expected, with Toure there and Cygan at centreback. It worked fine, and although Hoyte may be disappointed not to come on before the 91st minute we can't complain about youth not being given a chance, seeing as Gael Clichy started the match on the left hand side of midfield.

He did ok, but the main difference in this game was the world-class performances of Thierry Henry and captain-for-the-day Dennis Bergkamp. Henry was responsible for the killer pass for all 3 goals, Dennis was involved in 2, and in countless other great moves. How we're going to miss him on Tuesday...

On 3 and a half minutes, Dennis got possession off Cunningham halfway into their half on the left after a ricochet. He carried the ball left to right across the pitch and passed it towards Henry just outside the corner of the box. As Thierry received it, Freddie made a run into the box from behind him, and the Frenchman dinked a cute pass into the Swede's path. Finding himself clear in front of the keeper, Freddie side-footed it low past his right hand.

Their keeper had to make a a good save from Henry right at the start of the second half, and Arsenal came close a good few other times. One of the best was a wonderful short pass from Bergkamp that put Freddie through despite a crowd of blue shirts, but Freddie was unlucky with his first touch and never quite got full control of it in the box.

15 minutes to go and Forsell came close to an equaliser when he got to a cross just before Lehmann, but the header flashed past the post.

5 minutes later and we hit them on the break again to secure the points. This time the ball was cleared to Henry in the centre circle and he knocked it upfield perfectly for Bergkamp to run onto it. Dennis rolled back the years with a powerful run into the box, 3 defenders failing to catch up despite being not far behind to start with. As the keeper came out, Dennis lifted it softly over him and the ball crept over the line as a defender slid in to try to stop it.

Not long after that, Henry set up the 3rd for Pires. From his customary position wide on the left, Thierry received the ball, brought it infield, and passed square for Pires's run, so that Bobby recived it just in front of a gap between 2 defenders. A beautiful first and second touch got him into space, and as he was closed down he rolled it slowly inside the far post, teasing the defender who could only follow it into the net.

More wins for Chelsea and Man Utd today too, so we stay top, but only just.

Arsenal set a new record with this match, 13 games unbeaten at the start of the Premiership. The previous record of 12 was held jointly by us (the 1997-98 double season), Villa, and Forest. See record-breakers page.