Highbury hits a high

Imagine Arsenal when Nicolas Anelka is happy, when Nwankwo Kanu is fit and Dennis Bergkamp shoots as accurately as he passed on Saturday. The Dutchman was the architect of a memorable Arsenal afternoon and still was not satisfied. "I'm very disappointed not to have scored myself," he said with due solemnity.

The mark of a perfectionist, noted his manager Arsene Wenger, who is well qualified to know one. "Dennis is like a pianist who works at his skill," he said, as if to comment on the speed and delicacy of his footwork was too mundane for such a talent.

Something is definitely in the air at Highbury. Perhaps it is the promise of spring, when all things are possible. They certainly were last year and even Bergkamp was moved to express the mood. "It's all coming back. I feel it, for myself and for the team."

For Anelka, it is just beginning; was that a glimmer of a smile as the French teenager completed his first hat-trick in English football? Wenger insists the championship pattern will be different this time; he cannot foresee another spring offensive of 10 successive wins. But do not wager everything against it. As if the humiliation of Leicester and Bergkamp's words were not warning enough, Arsenal's manager agreed: "That was our best for a long time and they are improving from game to game."

His team has "more offensive" potential than a year ago, but not at the expense of traditional Arsenal strength. "We kept it serious at the back," he noted. "Efficient."

Martin O'Neill was as ungrudging in his praise of Arsenal as puzzled by his team's performance, so uncharacteristically uncompetitive that the manager prays it is an aberration. He will not want to repeat his walk to tender personal apologies to the Leicester fans at Highbury.

"Maybe it was a mad dream to think of qualifying for Europe through the league," he lamented. "We're a million miles away. To Arsenal I'd like to say we were second best but we weren't even that. Now I'm looking over my shoulder at other teams."

Leicester have not won for six Premiership matches and have gone almost five hours without a league goal.

After admiration of Arsenal ("fantastic") and Bergkamp ("magnificent") there were brickbats for his own team. "We got murdered, absolutely pummelled. We made things remarkably easy for them."

Bergkamp might be "world class", he added, "but he won't get many easier afternoons". Steve Walsh, who asked for and received Bergkamp's shirt at the final whistle, was only half to blame since the Leicester loyalist joined the unequal battle with the damage done.

By then Arsenal were 4-0 ahead, Anelka, Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira were strolling, and a euphoric Arsenal crowd were chanting "champions, champions". O'Neill re-shaped his side only for Ray Parlour to strike his second goal - with his left foot to heighten the air of unreality. A minute earlier there had been ironic cheers as David Seaman was tested, by Muzzy Izzet's routine shot, for the first time.

After that Arsenal spared Anelka, Vieira and Marc Overmars more punishment. Kanu demonstrated his ability as target man and Kaba Diawara his physical strength. Bergkamp, still probing from the deep, kept piercing Leicester's flat defence and emerged to miss two chances.

Arsenal's first goal graphically illustrated their counter-attacking potency, Bergkamp flighting a pass from his own half and Anelka sprinting away to score crushingly. The fourth goal, completing the 19-year-old's hat-trick in 21 minutes, was a triumph of team work, the ball flowing between six red shirts.

It all looked so easy that Wenger was asked for the secret. The answer was typically tantalising: "Football is quite simple to analyse; the hard thing is to find the players who can do it." Wenger - and his players - clearly believe they can.

"When you have Bergkamp behind you," said Wenger, "you know you will get the ball." The Dutchman shared the compliment. "With two very fast players up front, it makes it so much easier. All I have to do is put the ball into space."

If Anelka's adaptation to London life remains troubled, not so his learning curve in England. "The difference now," said Bergkamp, "is that he doesn't need a lot of chances. He's opened the scoring in nine or 10 games for us."

ARSENAL: Seaman, Dixon, Grimandi, Adams, Vivas, Parlour, Vieira (Hughes 71), Garde, Overmars (Kanu 67), Anelka (Diawara 67), Bergkamp. Subs Not Used: Bould, Manninger. Goals: Anelka 23, 27, Parlour 42, Anelka 44, Parlour 48.

LEICESTER: Keller, Sinclair, Kaamark (Impey 45), Elliott, Ullathorne, Savage, Lennon, Zagorakis (Walsh 45), Izzet, Guppy, Gunnlaugsson (Fenton 84). Subs Not Used: Marshall, Arphexad.