Arsenal in a different league

Reading 0 Arsenal 4: This time the only injury sustained here was to Reading's pride, though Steve Coppell and his players need not feel embarrassed by yesterday's comprehensive defeat.

Arsenal produced the brand of stylish, sweeping and incisive football that has demolished far more expensively assembled teams as they cruised to a fifth straight Premiership victory and looked very much challengers for Chelsea's title.

At a stadium where Manchester United drew last month and Chelsea won only 1-0, albeit in difficult circumstances with injuries to two goalkeepers, Arsenal enjoyed a resounding triumph. It was the first time Reading have lost by more than a goal this season and defeat could have been heavier amid Arsenal's swift thrusts, mobility and fluid passing. It was the perfect birthday present for Arsene Wenger, 57 yesterday.

The performance had Wenger's mark stamped on it, and his side's goals were not only well made but ideally timed. Arsenal went ahead after 58 seconds, scored a second after a period in which Reading might have equalised, and killed the game early in the second half. Goals two and three were especially beautifully crafted, showing the speed of touch, thought and movement that can lift Arsenal to a level few are capable of matching.

"If we play like that I don't think a lot of teams can do a lot," said Cesc Fabregas. He, Thierry Henry, Tomas Rosicky and Alexander Hleb were prominent and a 4-1-4-1 set-up gave Reading endless problems, with Arsenal midfielders drifting infield from wide and pouring forward from deep. The system allows Fabregas to get far upfield and Rosicky to create from central areas, and Reading could not cope.

Fabregas burst into the area to set up the opener for Henry, with whom he has developed a fine understanding, and was pulled down for the Henry penalty which made it 4-0. Some of Rosicky's passes were exquisite, including one that allowed Hleb to drive in for 2-0, and Arsenal fans followed the fabulous third goal by chanting: "Have you ever seen Chelsea play like this?" Maybe not, but Chelsea have a habit of winning at places such as Bolton, and Arsenal still need to show they can do the same.

An outclassed Reading never showed the physical appetite that had been anticipated. They were stung by conceding so early, hampered by being outnumbered in midfield, and were perhaps affected by the fall-out from the fractured skull Petr Cech suffered here. Coppell denied that but Wenger felt something had been "taken away psychologically" from Reading. Either way, James Harper and Steve Sidwell found facing their former club chastening, never able to disrupt Arsenal's rhythm or track the runs of Fabregas and Rosicky.

Wenger was delighted with the reaction to Tuesday's defeat at CSKA Moscow. "We wanted a quick response not to drop our level of confidence," he said. After the other results, a win was all the more important. "We were under pressure before the game because Manchester United won and Chelsea won, so we knew today was a big day for us."

Arsenal are five points off the top with a game in hand and have won five successive league games for the first time since 2004. "They are not in our league, even though we are in the Premiership," said Coppell. Reading's open style helped Arsenal but the manager should not be condemned for that.

A fluency was immediately plain when Hleb picked out Fabregas and the Spaniard easily beat Harper and set up Henry to stroke a shot beyond Marcus Hahnemann.

Though Arsenal dominated, Reading occasionally threatened, notably from set-pieces, and Jens Lehmann made his sole save, from Seol Ki-Hyeon, before brilliant combination play involving Rosicky and Hleb led to the Belarusian scoring from inside the penalty area.

The speed with which Arsenal can turn seemingly unthreatening positions into goals was epitomised by their third strike. Kolo Toure's delivery from his own half to Fabregas led in a blur of passes to a side-footed goal for Robin van Persie. When Fabregas latched on to Henry's through ball and was tripped by Hahnemann, Henry added the final touch. It was a golden performance from Arsenal.

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