BY MATT DICKINSON ( The Times )

With his side only two points behind Arsenal, having played a game less, the consequences of this embarrassment might not overly worry the United manager. Its manner, though, should terrify him, because this was desperately spineless stuff.

Defeat was as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests, probably more so. United were battered to the extent that even the sending-off of Nicky Butt after 52 minutes - harsh as it was - could not be cited in mitigation. The game, as even Ferguson admitted, had long since been lost.

Among the countless reasons for the margin of Arsenal's victory, the colossal performance of Patrick Vieira must rank as the most influential. The France international can receive no higher praise than to say that, for much of the game, he made Roy Keane look a subdued figure.

"That was one of Vieira's best performances for us," Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said. "He was outstanding. To lose today would have been a big blow, because it is a long time since we won, but we got our offensive power back and it was our best display of the season. The atmosphere was so good, it reminded me of the day we won the title against Everton."

However well Arsenal played, it was always going to take some complicity by United to produce such a scoreline. They obliged even before kick-off when Ferguson picked a starting XI with Ryan Giggs alongside Dwight Yorke in attack.

The United manager has talked like a mad, excited professor for some time now of the experiment of playing Giggs through the middle. If he was expecting the concoction of the Welshman and Yorke to produce explosions, however, he was to be sorely mistaken. Both looked forlorn figures as Keown and Adams tackled them out of the game."I wanted Giggs and Yorke to move their two centre halves around," Ferguson said. "They had their moments, but not enough of them."

Given the poverty of Gareth Southgate's last England performance, it may not be long before Keown joins his club partner in the international side. His timing was impeccable yesterday, not least because Glenn Hoddle, the England coach, was watching.

United's only opportunities appeared to come from David Beckham's long-range free kicks and, well as they were struck, he found that David Seaman had returned to his title-winning reliability.

Arsenal were dominant from the first whistle and went ahead after just 14 minutes. Stephen Hughes curled an inswinging free kick into the heart of the penalty area, where Adams lurked. The England defender's jump was perfectly timed, but he was also aided by the combined slackness of Peter Schmeichel and Jaap Stam. After some better displays, Stam was back to his uncertain worst.

Arsenal were rampant. Marc Overmars tormented Gary Neville to the extent that the full back had a rush of blood in the second half and dived into a needless tackle. Overmars had disappeared before Neville could even remember what day it was. It should have been 2-0 long before the 43rd-minute move that allowed Anelka to score. Keown began it in his own half with a tackle on Giggs of uncompromising force, Vieira, first to the ball - as he was all afternoon - slipped it to Overmars, whose long pass cleared Stam's head. It fell perfectly for the Frenchman, who ran through to score at the second attempt, Schmeichel having blocked the first.

The dismissal of Butt against Barcelona in the Champions' League at Old Trafford on Wednesday had angered Ferguson and the United manager defended his midfield player again after he was sent off for the second time in five days, seven minutes after the interval, for tripping Vieira on the edge of the penalty area. Ferguson said: "The referee said it was a tackle from the back and that Butt was the last man. He was wrong on both counts. You can talk about professional referees, but what difference is it going to make? You can either make the decision or you can't."

Fair comment, but he also owed a debt of thanks to Graham Barber, the match official, for his leniency towards Roy Keane, who could easily have been dismissed for a second booking.

Such was Arsenal's dominance that Wenger could afford to bring on Frederik Ljungberg for his debut with 11 minutes left. The Sweden international was rewarded seven minutes from time when Hughes played him through the United defence. It was all so easy.

ARSENAL (4-4-2): D Seaman - L Dixon, T Adams, M Keown, N Winterburn - R Parlour, P Vieira, S Hughes, M Overmars - N Anelka (sub: F Ljungberg, 79min), D Bergkamp.

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): P Schmeichel - G Neville, J Stam, H Berg, D Irwin - D Beckham, N Butt, R Keane, J Blomqvist - R Giggs, D Yorke.

Referee: G Barber.