Arsenal - 3 Aston Villa - 1: Eight years in football, Arsene Wenger declared of his Highbury reign, is like 50 years in normal life. If so, he is lucky to enjoy the rejuvenating power of his team. Arsenal are refreshing the parts that other teams cannot reach.

Wenger celebrates his 55th birthday on Friday but nothing will please him more than a victory away to Manchester United on Sunday, which would seal a run of 50 unbeaten matches in style.

Interest extends far beyond these two warring tribes. "The whole of England awaits this game," Wenger announced.

If the appetite needs further whetting, then this glistening Arsenal performance provided it.

Aston Villa's manager, David O'Leary, expressed his admiration literally, holding up his hands, before citing their attributes. "They're big, strong, quick, fit - everything is good about them. They're wonderful to watch."

And that is without listing their formidable technical qualities.

Wenger was only slightly less effusive. "We reached moments of perfect timing, that's what we work for," he said. "It was really enjoyable from the bench. What do we do now? Keep on winning. We have to concentrate on the quality of our game." Some quality.

The superlatives about Arsenal's touch, movement and passing have been exhausted, which is possibly why O'Leary added mental strength. "I don't think they would have panicked at even two goals down. They've got such a belief."

Villa paid heavily for their temerity in taking an early lead, a rapid counter-attack leading to Lee Hendrie's low, bouncing 20-yard shot. Thereafter Arsenal's domination was total. "I think we annoyed them," said their captain, Olof Mellberg ruefully.

Arsenal's supremacy was uplifting and yet depressing. Villa were close to qualifying for Europe last season and yet could not muster a genuine challenge here. The statistics tell the one-sided story: Arsenal had 16 shots on target, eight of them blocked by the courageous deputy goalkeeper Stefan Postma, showing remarkable sharpness in his first full game of the season.

Villa had two efforts on target.

Once Thierry Henry had asserted himself, the game was over. The striker lured Mark Delaney into an illegal challenge and, while he recovered from his fall, Robert Pires, deputy penalty-taker, converted calmly. Then Jose Antonio Reyes, with a pass that took out three defenders, supplied Henry for a precise, low shot into the far corner.

Arsenal's interval lead would have been greater but for Graham Poll failing to penalise Hendrie for clattering into Reyes in the penalty area.

This prompted a spat ending with Villa's midfielder falling theatrically as Reyes nodded, rather than butted, him. Equally remarkably Poll did not book either player in this incident.

Arsenal's search for the perfect goal in the second half almost arrived when a combination of backheels between Reyes and Henry set up the Spaniard for a drive somehow parried by the 6ft 4in frame of Postma. But the coup de grâce, 18 minutes from time, was worth the wait.

It was a textbook example of how to draw a defence out of position. A ripple of passes down Villa's left flank released Mathieu Flamini to cross, Henry to touch on and Pires, enjoying the freedom of the penalty area, to convert with a flourish the move demanded.

Wenger could now afford to take off Reyes and Pires, after the enforced substitution of Patrick Vieira, whose sprained ankle leaves him with only a 20 per cent chance of playing against Panathinaikos on Wednesday.

This left the 17-year-old Cesc Fabregas as the sole surviving starter in the remarkably young midfield finishing the match.

This was not lost on O'Leary, who said: "That's the point about Arsenal that's never mentioned. This is a young side that can only get better."

The Catalan teenager, prised from Barcelona, already appears worthy of automatic selection by Wenger.

"His maturity is outstanding," said the Highbury manager, "and his awareness remarkable for someone his age. But I will rest him. He's 17 and it will kill him to play every game."

When asked if his player ranked with Wayne Rooney as the outstanding teenager in English football, Wenger said: "Rooney is now considered to be a great player; Fabregas is a promising player."

Old Trafford will probably be able to draw its own conclusions on Sunday, when an Arsenal victory would put them 14 points clear of United. But even such a seemingly irrecoverable lead would not rule United out of contention, says Wenger.

"It's too early to say. If it was January or February, it would be different."