The Arse on fire

The Arse 3
(Stewart o.g. 33rd, Henry 43rd, Adebayor 67th)

Watford 0

Simply shagadelic.

The Arse was in scintillating form as they celebrated Meister Wenger's 10 years at the helm. Watford, to their credit, came to Ashburton Grove to play - and proceeded to hand the Gunners a platform on which they proceeded to strut their stuff.

Boy-wonder Walcott was on show, starting in place of the injured Ljungberg. Adebayor paired up with captain Henry up front, giving van Pussie a well-deserved rest after his heroics with the Oranje team.

Rosicky and The Formerly Mulleted One bossed the midfield with Gilberto patrolling the rear of midfield to pick up loose ends.

Before long the Gooners were all over Watford like sex-starved sailors rampaging through a red-light zone. Fabregas was splitting the defence almost wilfully and well before Stewart put the ball past his own keeper, the Gooners could have been five up.

Watford tried to come back and they did cause some anxious moments with Lehmann working hard for his money before Thierry Henry made it 2-0 just before the break.

Le capitaine was in superb form, creating chances and openings for his team-mates. Missing two great chances before scoring his first, the magnificant Frenchman then capped it off with an unselfish pass after breaking through yet again in the second half.

His pass was so good that either Hleb or Adebayor could knock the ball in. And Adebayor, having the longer legs of the two steered the ball home.

Three-nil up and it was all over. The Arse is now just 5 points behind the league leaders with a game in hand and looking better with each game.

Despite the sluggish start to the season, Gooners can now take heart not only with the continuous improvements apparent in a stellar Arsenal side but also with several other reassuring sights.

There was the sight of Clichy returning to action after being laid up injured for so long, adding more options to Wenger's balancing of an already impressive defence.

There was also Adebayor's two deft touches - the first resulting in the Arse's first goal and the second sending Henry through for the second - indicative of the young man's maturing all-round game under the tutelage of one of the world's best strikers.

The sight of Hleb and Rosciky weaving themselves into the very fabric of the team and linking up effectively with the Absolutely Fab-regas, himself already well on his way to joining the likes of Liam Brady and David Rocastle as yet another Arsenal midfield legend.

And maybe the most reassuring of all, the sight of the joy so apparent on the players' faces as they revel in the magic of their own football - the joy last seen burning bright in Highbury as Wenger's Invincibles set off on a 49-match unbeaten run.

And Theo Walcott's start in the first eleven, why, it was simply chocolate icing on an already spectacularly rich cake.

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Arsenal play away at CSKA Moscow tomorrow