Manchester City have extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to 16 points courtesy of a convincing 3-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this evening.
The champions-elect raced into a three-goal lead during a devastating first-half performance as goals from Bernardo Silva, David Silva and Leroy Sane ensured that the visitors wrapped things up early in Pep Guardiola's 100th game in charge.
Arsenal did have a chance to salvage some hope when they were awarded a penalty early in the second half, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw his spot kick saved on a miserable night for the hosts as they were outclassed in front of a half-empty stadium.
The result leaves Arsene Wenger's side still 10 points adrift of the Champions League places with only 10 games of the season remaining, while Man City take another step towards an inevitable fifth top-flight title.
Arsenal were looking for a response to their 3-0 defeat at the hands of City in the EFL Cup final just four days previously, and they started brightly enough with more encouraging signs than they showed at Wembley.
The Gunners created the first threatening moment when an Aaron Ramsey cross was hit against Ederson by Vincent Kompany before Henrikh Mkhitaryan - back in the side after being cup-tied last weekend - drilled a low strike towards goal which needed to be saved by the Man City keeper.
Guardiola's side soon gave the first glimpse of the ruthless mood which would go on to take the game away from Arsenal, though, as they broke the deadlock after 15 minutes.
Sane was the creator with some dazzling footwork which saw him dart past four Arsenal defenders before finding Bernardo, who was allowed to cut inside onto his left foot before curling a fine finish into the top corner from the edge of the box.
That strike saw Man City equal their tally of goals from the entire 2016-17 campaign and also ensured that Petr Cech's wait for his 200th Premier League clean sheet went on, although it would soon become much worse for the Arsenal shot-stopper.
The hosts did threaten to claw their way back into the match before that, though, with Granit Xhaka testing Ederson with a long-range free kick before the keeper was again called into action to deny Ramsey's strike from inside the area.
However, while Arsenal were failing to take advantage of those chances, Man City were in devastating form and doubled their lead shortly before the half-hour mark when David Silva joined his namesake Bernardo on the scoresheet.
It was another goal of very high quality as Sane and Sergio Aguero combined to lay the ball into the path of Sillva, who took it in his stride majestically before adding the finishing touch to another irresistible team move.
A third world-class goal arrived five minutes later as City continued to cut through their hosts, with Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker all involved to set up Sane, whose finish took a touch off Hector Bellerin before creeping into the bottom corner.
There were a lot of empty seats inside the Emirates Stadium, but those who had braved the sub-zero temperatures greeted the third goal with boos and things almost got worse six minutes before half time when Aguero's close-range strike was thwarted by Cech.
Xhaka produced another long-range effort which Ederson needed to save before half time, but the hosts went into the break with more jeers ringing in their ears following a half in which they were outclassed by the runaway league leaders.
The Gunners had created enough chances to suggest that they were not completely dead and buried, though, and they were handed the perfect opportunity to get a route back into the match seven minutes after the restart when Nicolas Otamendi caught Mkhitaryan inside the area.
Aubameyang stepped up to the resulting penalty, but Ederson guessed right to deny the striker as Arsenal's evening went from bad to worse.
Aubameyang had the chance to make amends for that miss shortly before the hour mark as Arsenal enjoyed the lion's share of possession in the opening stages of the second half, but his shot on the volley bounced narrowly wide of the target.
City soon began to take control of the ball once again as they managed the game well, and it took another smart save from Cech to deny Aguero his landmark 200th Man City goal 12 minutes from time when he got down well to push the Argentine's low strike away.
The second half was largely spent going through the motions for the visitors, though, and they comfortably saw the game out to end a three-match winless run away from home in the Premier League, doing the league double over Arsenal for the first time since 1975-76 in the process.
The win is only City's second in their last 33 top-flight away games against Arsenal, while the Gunners have now lost five of their last seven games across all competitions - including three in a row for the first time since March 2016.
Man City will now turn their attention to facing Chelsea on Sunday, whereas Arsenal will look to bounce back against Brighton & Hove Albion.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Kolasinac; Xhaka, Ramsey; Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck; Aubameyang
MAN CITY (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker (Zinchenko, 72'), Danilo, Kompany, Otamendi; Gundogan, De Bruyne, Silva (Jesus, 87'); Bernardo, Sane, Aguero (Toure, 82')
Barney Corkhill
