Soccer: Arsenal - 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers - 0 Next time Arsenal play Wolves, they ought to field their youth or ladies team to make things more interesting. Less than a month after their reserves beat these opponents 5-1 in the League Cup, the first XI strolled to victory yesterday. The referee should have called a halt after 20 minutes and let everyone get back to their festive celebrations.
By that stage Arsenal were two goals ahead and it was game over. Arsene Wenger's side scored just once more, partly because they were denied by a post and a couple of Michael Oakes saves but largely because they took their foot off the pedal after the interval, presumably with Monday night's more testing trip to Southampton in mind.
It made for a tedious second half as Wolves never threatened, and matters were enlivened only by Thierry Henry's excellent late goal.
The Frenchman had earlier scored in the Premiership for the first time since November 1st and did much to torment Wolves in the opening 45 minutes, supported notably by Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira and the promising Gael Clichy.
Wenger's players were in control throughout. They performed with vigour in the first half and could easily have scored more than twice. Later in cruise control, their passing was sharper than anything Wolves could offer, even if moves frequently petered out. By never changing from 4-5-1, Wolves suggested they were concerned more with damage limitation than trying to find a way back.
They had helped Arsenal on their way, poor marking at a corner culminating in a Jody Craddock own-goal before the same defender dwelled horribly on the ball to allow Vieira to set up Henry. Wolves created only one notable chance, wasted by Kenny Miller, and did not seem to believe they could recover.
Belief is not in short supply at Arsenal, who remain unbeaten in the league. After one of the most straightforward wins imaginable, Wenger praised his team's defensive focus in the second half.
"We became complacent sometimes last season when we were in charge and were punished," he said.
"We didn't do that."
That was true but a far tougher test awaits at St Mary's, where the back four found it hard to cope with James Beattie last season and Southampton won 3-2. Pascal Cygan struggled with the physical battle and, if he holds his place, can expect a much less comfortable ride than he was allowed here.
A certain starter as ever is Henry, who ended a mini-drought of five Premiership matches without a goal and, before the interval, did plenty besides. Frequently working down the left with Pires and Clichy, he had too much pace and speed of thought for Wolves.
He emerged from a far quieter second period to score the game's best goal, collecting a pass from Edu, beating Oleg Luzhny and firing low into the far corner.
Dennis Bergkamp had been Arsenal's brightest spark in the opening 25 minutes of the second half and there were two significant positives for Wenger elsewhere. At left back, the 18-year-old Clichy looked an impressive understudy for Ashley Cole.
Vieira took another step in his recovery from injury, even if he is not quite at his best. "He's improving in every game," Wenger said. "He is 80 to 90 per cent back to his full fitness."
Vieira played a role in the first two goals. His stab at Henry's corner deflected into the net off Craddock. Then he robbed Craddock, surged into the area and cut back for Henry to score.
"Those two goals are hard to swallow," said the Wolves manager, Dave Jones, who described the second half as "ridiculous".
"We have a tendency to give teams a bit of a leg-up and we can't do that." Wolves had not helped themselves to begin with by almost invariably giving the ball straight back to Arsenal, inviting pressure.
Throughout the game, their policy of pulling men behind the ball was undermined by the failure of enough players to make quick, robust challenges, though Alex Rae never shirked.
Jones hopes to add to his squad and said his players needed to "keep believing". Yet their fight against relegation looks increasingly forlorn after seven league games without a win.
They may wonder what would have happened if Miller had beaten Jens Lehmann when put through just after the half-hour but the likelihood is Arsenal would have stepped up a gear.
ARSENAL: Lehmann; Toure, Campbell, Cygan, Clichy, Ljungberg (Edu 71), Vieira, Parlour, Pires (Aliadiere 71), Bergkamp, Henry. Subs Not Used: Keown, Kanu, Stack. Booked: Aliadiere, Vieira. Goals: Craddock 13 og, Henry 20, 89.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS: Oakes; Luzhny, Craddock, Butler, Naylor, Cameron, Ince, Rae, Kennedy, Camara (Sturridge 85), Miller (Newton 76). Subs Not Used: Iversen, Clyde, Marshall. Booked: Butler, Rae, Ince, Naylor, Luzhny.
Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).
