Arsenal showed no signs of letting up after setting a new unbeaten record in the top-flight, romping to a 4-1 victory against Premiership new boys Norwich City at Carrow Road.
Justin Hoyte was brought in as a last-minute replacement for Pascal Cygan, who has an injured calf, and he rewarded his managers confidence in him by giving a good performance, with the possible exception of the foul on Darren Huckerby five minutes into the second half which gave the Canaries a penalty.
A masterful performance by Thierry Henry ensured that the home side became the 44th victim in the Gunners record breaking unbeaten league run.
The home side kicked off attacking the Barclay end goal and forced a corner in the first minute which unfortunately for the home fans came to nothing.
Arsenal then forced Norwich on to the back foot winning two corners which were safely dealt with by the home defence.
Jose Antonio Reyes brought a save from Robert Green after eight minutes, then Norwich threatened briefly before the Gunners went on the offensive again forcing another two corners.
Norwich hearts were in mouths after 15 minutes when Reyes had the ball cleared off his toe as he was about to shoot.
Green saved from Henry and a free-kick from the same player rebounded off the City defensive wall.
The inevitable goal came in the 22nd minute when Henry's low cross from the left was met at the far post by the right foot of Reyes, giving Green no chance from six yards.
Once again the home side threatened and on the half hour referee Graham Poll angered the home fans when he failed to send off Lauren for fouling Huckerby when he had broken clear of the Arsenal defence. Instead Mr Poll waved a yellow card.
Henry made it 2-0 in the 36th minute when he rose unchallenged at the near post to head in from six yards.
In the 40th minute Adam Drury was caught in possession by Fredrik Ljungberg and Robert Pires collected his pass and beat Green low to his left with a right-foot shot from some 12 yards to put Arsenal 3-0 up at the interval.
Mattias Jonson made way for Youssef Safri at the start of the second half and in the 50th minute a dazzling run by Huckerby brought the penalty when Hoyte tripped him.
Huckerby got up to take the spot-kick and sent Jens Lehmann the wrong way with the keeper diving to his left and Huckerby's right-foot shot finding the opposite corner of the net.
Lehmann then had to turn Huckerby's shot round the post and tip over a snap shot from midfielder Gary Holt.
In the 63rd minute Paul McVeigh made way for Leon McKenzie.
Huckerby made another run down the left, but his cross was cleared before it reached the head of the inrushing Gary Doherty.
Craig Fleming did well to block a shot from Reyes shortly before the Arsenal player was withdrawn to be replaced by Dennis Bergkamp in the 73rd minute.
Cesc Fabregas was replaced in the same double substitution by Edu.
Henry delighted the away fans with a demonstration of ball juggling and a volleyed cross from the right wing, before the home side enjoyed a good spell without finding the finish to test the Arsenal keeper.
In the 82nd minute Doherty made way for Mathias Svensson and two minutes later Pires was replaced by Gael Clichy.
In a final flourish Svensson replaced Huckerby down the Norwich right but his low cross was safely gathered by Lehmann.
With the home side pushing forward in an attempt to make the scoreline more respectable, man of the match Henry delivered a deep cross from the left wing which fell to the unmarked Bergkamp who made the final score 4-1 with a right-foot shot from 16 yards which flew inside Green's left-hand post.