Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Mon 09 Sep 2007Fabregas directs onslaughtSOCCER/Arsenal 5 Derby County 0:A better idea of how well equipped Arsenal are to win a fourth Premier League title under Arsene Wenger should emerge once they have met Liverpool and Manchester United in the space of seven days just over a month from now. In the meantime, they continue to enjoy some useful net practice against lesser sides and on Saturday punished Derby County's dire defending with yet more exhilarating football.The outstanding Hungarian team of the early 1950s used to play practice games against works teams, scoring goals by the dozen but at the same time keeping themselves in trim for the real thing. Derby are a cut above factory level, but the ease with which Arsenal outpaced, outmanoeuvred and out-thought Billy Davies's newly promoted side suggested their fellow elitists will be hard pressed to keep up.