Arsenal justified Arsene Wenger's pre-match title talk as three early goals blew away Manchester United at the Emirates.
Alexis Sanchez (6) and Mesut Ozil (7) scored within 33 seconds before the Chilean belted a third to all-but finish the contest with barely 20 minutes played.
Petr Cech made a big stop from Anthony Martial right on half-time and United did improve after the break, but that was as much down to Arsenal re-evaluating their ambition as anything else, and three times counter-attacks almost brought a fourth goal.
The result leaves Arsenal two points behind Manchester City, the margin of victory enough to take them above United into second place.
Both managers had talked up the importance of the day in the build-up, Wenger calling it the season's "first massive game" and Louis Van Gaal suggesting three points would give his side the belief to mount a title challenge.
Few bought into Wenger's pre-match insistence that Arsenal can win this season's Premier League, but the Arsenal manager's apparently unyielding faith in his players proved justified as they produced a positive response to their latest Champions League chastening.
The manager's message had clearly got across as his players rattled into United from the start: Sanchez tore terrifyingly at Matteo Darmian, Ozil demanded the ball and Gabriel unsuccessfully claimed a penalty as Bastian Schweinsteiger took an armful of his midriff from a corner.
And there was a sense of the inevitable even so early in the game when Ozil got the byline and cut back a right-footed centre for Sanchez to flick the ball behind his standing leg and beyond a committed David De Gea.
Untied had barely restarted when their pockets were picked again in midfield, Ozil shovelling a pass for Theo Walcott, who checked back and returned the favour for the German to side-foot a second. Just 33 seconds separated the goals.
Underpinning Arsenal's start was the composure of Santi Cazorla, who dictated play from deep and even mucked in to get his full-backs out of a hole here and there as the half wore on.
Aaron Ramsey should have had Arsenal out of sight only to volley off target, and when Martial spun Per Mertesacker to force a left-legged stop from Cech there was a palpable sense of nervousness among home supporters who have seen the lot in recent seasons.
(Skysports)
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