United crush Arsenal 6-1 with Yorke in starring role

Arsenal were humiliated by runaway Premiership leaders Manchester United with Dwight Yorke returning to the Manchester United side and hitting a hat-trick in the first 21 minutes of this Old Trafford romp.

Arsenal were playing well at the start of the game and recovered from an early second minute goal by Yorke to equalise when five first time passes threaded Robert Pires into the penalty area and he crossed for a neat finish from Thierry Henry to hit his 18th goal of the season.

United then made an embarassing mess of the London club's defence and hit four goals.

Just two minutes after Henry's 16th minute striker Yorke was put clear by a long pass from Roy Keane and he went up to David Seaman and finished calmly after Grimandi and Stepanovs made a mess of the offside trap.

Stepanovs was left for dead in the 21st minute by Yorke after a high pass from David Beckham for his third goal.

Two minutes before that finish David Seaman had saved well from underneath the crossbar after Beckham found Yorke unmarked for a header.

Seaman had no chance at all with the fourth United goal.

Stepanovs was again passed easily by Yorke who crossed into the run of Roy Keane from midfield and he controlled the ball and drilled it past the veteran 'keeper.

Arsenal were in chaos by this stage with their defence shredded like amateurs. The defence that let a late Champions League lead slip away against Lyon in midweek were slaughtered by United to open up a 16 point lead in the Premiership.

Two minutes from the end of the first half hundreds of Arsenal fans were queueing to leave the Old Trafford ground after Nicky Butt had raided down the right past a flailing Gilles Grimandi to cross for le Gunnar Solskjaer to finish at the near post.

But the first half belonged to Yorke. His thrilling display of top class front running made United forget that Andy Cole was suspended and sitting in the stands watching United's total eclipse of the Premiership and their rivals.

The English media likes to talk up the strength of their league and particularly the threat Arsenal pose to United but this was proved a fantasy by the champions' riot of goal scoring against the London club. The game died in the second half as United walked with the ball to emphasise their superiority. Arsenal substitute Fredrik Ljungberg failed to beat Barthez when clean through in the last minute after springing the offside trap. Seconds later Solskjaer set up Teddy Sheringham for an easy finish to hit his 19th goal of the season.