Anything you can do, we can do so much better. That was the message from Manchester United to their city rivals after a historic 8-2 humbling of Arsenal, once their most feared opponents, but now fallen giants.
As neighbours City revelled in their 5-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur, United surpassed them in spectacular style as the Gunners conceded eight goals in a game for the first time since 1896.
Sir Alex Ferguson had offered pre-match sympathy and support for his counterpart Arsene Wenger. But during an extraordinary 90 minutes at the Theatre of Dreams his team twisted the dagger deep into the heart of the Arsenal manager as Wayne Rooney led a rout that was as ruthless as it was one to remember.
Arsenal were weakened, but were woeful and it was just a surprise that it took United 21 minutes to score the first of their super eight. Anderson lofted a chip into the box and Danny Welbeck sent a looping header past Wojciech Szczesny. It was met by a rueful shake of the head from Wenger.
The absence of eight players through suspension and injury prompted a league debut for Francis Coquelin, but the Frenchman was part of a midfield that was over-run and left a defence worryingly exposed.
Arsenal’s slim hopes rested with their frontline and particularly the pace of Theo Walcott. His threat was highlighted in the 26th minute when he burst into the box and was pulled back by Jonny Evans. Up stepped Robin van Persie and down went keeper David de Gea to his right to stop the penalty.
The significance of that miss was clear just a minute later when Armand Traore’s weak header dropped to Ashley Young and his finish was composed and classy as it curled into the top corner.
De Gea then showed why Ferguson kept faith in him with a double save to deny Andriy Arshavin and a follow-up from van Persie.
United’s third goal was just as cute as the second. Rooney touched a free kick to Young and whipped the ball high into the net leaving Szczesny helpless.
Walcott, though, replied for his suffering side in injury-time, latching onto a pass from Tomas Rosicky and squeezing the ball through the legs of De Gea.
But there was simply no stopping United. Their attacking was both breathless and brilliant.
Teenager Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain made his long-waited appearance in an Arsenal shirt when he replaced Coquelin in the 62nd minute, but he had barely touched the ball before the hosts went 5-1 ahead within five magical minutes.
Rooney repeated his earlier free-kick routine with Young and the outcome was the same. He then slipped through a pass to an unmarked Nani, whose impudent chip left Szczesny helpless.
Ji-Sung Park came off the bench to get in on the goal action, exchanging passes with Young before firing a low shot into the corner.
The game was open, it was outstanding and van Persie volleyed past De Gea as Arsenal tried to salvage some pride. But it was in vain.
Carl Jenkinson’s torrid day was compounded by a dismissal after he barged Javier Hernandez to pick up a second yellow card. Walcott went to right back and sent Patrice Evra tumbling for Rooney to claim his hat-trick from the penalty spot.
Young finished off a gr-eight day for United with a sumptuous strike in injury time, but the accolades were reserved for Rooney as he took his United tally to 152 goals and a club record 107 in the Premier League.
He said: “The performance was incredible and we deserved the result.
“A lot of my milestone goals have come against Arsenal. My first goal when I was at Everton was against them and my first United goal in the Premier League came against them too.”
