Manchester City 1 Arsenal 3:Sven-Goran Eriksson turns 60 tomorrow and if his birthday is anything like Manchester City's form the cake will be soggy, the candles will not light and his cards will be lost in the post.

Eriksson has had a difficult start to 2008 and Arsenal were so superior on Saturday the City manager did something here he has not done all season - he came close to losing his temper. Eriksson being Eriksson, nobody was pinned against the wall, no crockery was smashed, and his players are still wondering whether this owlish little man has ever uttered an expletive.

All the same, it is difficult to remember him looking so cross. Superlatives have attached themselves to Arsenal all season but on this occasion words such as "routine" and "comfortable" could be applied to their return to the top of the Premier League table, with the exception, perhaps, of the prolific Emmanuel Adebayor, who now has 21 goals.

Arsene Wenger's men always had that extra little bit of class but the truth was they did not have to reach their most dazzling heights. "They can move the ball all day if you give them time and space and we did that," said Eriksson. "We looked afraid, nervous; we showed them too much respect." Asked if he was angry, he replied: "You can be sure of that."

Arsenal became the first away team to win in the league this season and Wenger, who described as "phenomenal" their total of 60 points, was effusive about Adebayor's contribution, nodding in agreement when it was put to him the Togo international had made Thierry Henry's absence much less traumatic than might have been anticipated. "That is a massive compliment because Henry is a world-class player," he said.

The tall, rangy striker opened the scoring, with a deflection off Micah Richards, before Eduardo da Silva volleyed in a second. Gael Clichy's over-playing allowed Vedran Corluka to set up Gelson Fernandes to make it 2-1 but Arsenal were seldom threatened and Adebayor marked their superiority late on to make it 11 goals in eight games for him.

Adebayor was whistling a happy tune when he left and Wenger was smiling, too, because his side have demonstrated nerve and poise since losing 5-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup semi-final.

It helps, of course, when opponents are as generous as City and Eriksson, resorting to mild sarcasm, wanted to know how many minutes had passed before his side gave away their first free-kick, the inference being that they had barely made a challenge.

Elano, Martin Petrov and Stephen Ireland have stopped looking for the ball, whereas the Arsenal players cannot get enough of it. That made it a game of keep-ball at times and the imbalance of talent was so extreme it amounted to a reality check as far as Champions League aspirations count. City suddenly look like an Intertoto Cup team.

• Guardian Service