Arsenal sidled back past Sunderland to second place in the Premiership last night with a leisurely victory over Bradford City the inevitability of which was ill-reflected in the scoreline. Arsene Wenger's side will stay there if Manchester United do not lose to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light this evening.
Yet Arsenal's chances of winning the title this season still appear about as hopeless as are Bradford's of staying in it.
So Jim Jefferies' strugglers could be said to share some sort of common ground with Wenger's plutocrats. Even at kick-off their recent league runs were not that far apart: Arsenal 14 points from nine matches, Bradford nine from nine.
But the reality was that Arsenal were expected to win this game comfortably while their impoverished opponents could not afford to ignore the sort of hand-out they were offered after four minutes.
A quick through pass from Peter Atherton caught the Arsenal centre backs, Tony Adams and Igors Stepanovs, square and spreadeagled, leaving Ashley Ward to beat David Seaman from less than 10 yards. Ward calmly chipped the ball past him but unfortunately for Bradford the shot ran wide of the goal.
With Bradford crowding the midfield and regularly withdrawing eight men behind the ball, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry were always going to find a few bodies blocking their way. All the same, with the defence stretched by Arsenal's wide men, Lauren and Robert Pires, Bradford were never going to deny them scoring opportunities for long.
Seventeen minutes in fact, and Arsenal did not have to see the whites of Gary Walsh's eyes in taking the lead. A pass inside by Bergkamp and Ray Parlour did the rest, driving a skidding shot past the Bradford goalkeeper from 25 yards.
With Parlour and Patrick Vieira able to bring the ball well over halfway before being seriously challenged, Arsenal had little difficulty maintaining whatever tempo they fancied. Bradford are a hard-working side but are no less one-paced than last season.
The point was reinforced when Arsenal went further ahead on 26 minutes. Lee Dixon, hardly a spring chicken, scampered around Eoin Jess and Lauren rose well to head down inside the far post with Walsh showing all the reflexes of a sack of coal.
Earlier, travelling Bradford fans jeered Adams after he optimistically tried to catch Walsh off his line with a shot from all of 35 yards. But since Arsenal had taken longer to score the first of their half-dozen in Saturday's FA Cup tie at QPR, Bradford now faced an even more bloodier turkey shoot. Certainly, as Vieira met a free-kick from Bergkamp which skimmed the bar just past the half-hour, the match was promising Arsenal an evening of target practice.
To their credit Bradford drew an urgent save from Seaman at the end of the first half, Wayne Jacobs appearing on the left to produce a swerving shot which the Arsenal goalkeeper turned round the near post Wenger's players had to guard against boring their fans should the ease of their superiority be unaccompanied by more goals.
With Bergkamp and Henry breaking through almost at will, and Vieira or Parlour first to practically every ball in midfield, Bradford were always going to be pressed to avoid falling further behind, although a creeping lethargy in Arsenal's finishing gave them a respite.
When Arsenal reawoke a square pass from Henry set up Parlour with a chance to score another, similar goal shortly before the hour. But this time Walsh turned the shot on to a post, Lauren wafting the rebound into the crowd.
Yet Arsenal's attacks were now fitful, often ending with a poor final pass.
ARSENAL Seaman; Dixon, Adams, Stepanovs, Cole; Lauren, Parlour, Vieira, Pires; Bergkamp, Henry.
BRADFORD CITY Walsh; Atherton, O'Brien, Molenaar, Myers, Jacobs; McCall McKinlay, Windass; Jess, Ward.
Referee : C Wilkes.
