Sometimes you need a bit of luck and Arsenal were the recipients of two slices of good fortune to fire them into action at Molineux yesterday. Wolves had started strongly but two first-half own goals saw their early confidence evaporate and, from then on, the Gunners took firm control of the match.

The encounter was finished as a contest on the stroke of half time when a sweeping Arsenal move was capped with a sublime lay-off from Robin Van Persie into the path of Cesc Fabregas who calmly passed the ball into the net. It was a goal to light up any game and was a moment of genuine class in what turned out to be a relatively bloodless victory in tricky conditions. Andrei Arshavin made it 4-0 in the 65th minute and a late Wolves rally, coupled with some abysmal Arsenal defending, allowed the home side to pull back a consolation effort with a couple of minutes to go.

As an Arsenal supporter, there are few more exquisite and satisfying pleasures in life than seeing the Gunners giving Spurs the sort of good hiding that silences all the pre-match talk from their manager, players and supporters and sends them all back down the Seven Sisters Road well-and-truly put in their place. Yesterday was one of those days and it was a match to savour.

To be honest, Arsene Wenger’s team were not at their best yesterday but they didn’t need to be. Tottenham’s much-vaunted improvement this season failed to materialise at Ashburton Grove and they looked very ordinary indeed. Manuel Almunia, who was finally recalled to first-team action, only had one meaningful save to make all afternoon when he palmed a David Bentley free-kick over the bar. That aside, the visitors had no real attacking ideas beyond punting hopeful long balls up to Peter Crouch.