Arsenal glided effortlessly past Bayer Leverkusen with a vibrant attacking display at Highbury.

The Gunners could now be just one more home win away from the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with Deportivo la Coruna the next visitors to test themselves at Highbury fortress in a fortnight.

Having left the ill-advised experiment of playing at Wembley behind them, Arsenal have now prospered in Europe at Highbury. An Arsenal player's home, it would seem, is his chateau.

This was their fifth consecutive home Champions League victory of the season and, for that record, they mainly have their star-studded French contingent to thank.

Against Leverkusen - who held them to a 1-1 draw last week in Germany - Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord caused utter mayhem with their pace, power and panache,

Within just seven minutes, the instinctive one-touch passing resulted in memorable goals for Henry and Pires as the German league leaders capitulated.

Behind them, Patrick Vieira was ably supported by Gilles Grimandi as he not only controlled central midfield, but also struck his second goal of the season just four days after the first.

And while David Seaman and Igors Stepanovs also both shone, the final moment of inspiration was left to Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp as he rounded off the scoring with a magical chip.

A late strike by substitute Zoltan Sebescen did ensure that Arsenal failed to keep a clean sheet, but this was still their biggest Champions League victory - and deservedly so.

What is more, all of this was achieved with a significantly weakened squad, with injury or suspension robbing Arsenal of a whole team of players.

But while they were without Ray Parlour, who was sent off in Leverkusen last week, creative midfielder Yildiray Basturk, who was accused by Arsene Wenger of diving to cause his dismissal, was left on the bench.

And if that was not a statement of defensive intent by the visitors, it is hard to know what else could have been.

Leverkusen's plans of containment were almost immediately in tatters though. Arsenal adopted the SAS approach of getting in and out before anyone had noticed.

And with just seven minutes gone, it was already effectively game over.

Vieira, breathing fire again after his recent lean spell, forcefully won possession and immediately fed Pires as he sped into the opposition half and bore inexorably down on goal.

At first sight, it was a memorable solo effort. In reality, it was down to mesmerising teamwork.

For as Pires glided through the gears, Henry peeled out to the left flank, Bergkamp veered to the right and, having taken their markers with them, their team-mate bulldozed his way through the gap.

And after stepping nimbly inside Jens Nowotny, Pires slotted his shot into the far corner.

Two minutes later, Arsenal rammed home their advantage. Vieira was again the instigator, with Bergkamp then finding Wiltord flying past him on the overlap.

He hardly needed to look up to realise that Henry would be champing at the bit inside the penalty area and the striker duly pounced upon the inch-perfect cross.

Leverkusen hardly knew what had hit them. Indeed, it took them until half-time to attempt any sort of real tactical reshuffle.

In the meantime, they attempted to exploit Arsenal's weakness down the left flank, where Lauren was forced to fill in as an emergency left-back due to injuries, but their probing came to nothing.

Arsenal, meanwhile, simply sat back, held their defensive line and bided their time.

Stepanovs came agonisingly close with a header which was tipped onto the bar, while Henry caused further panic as his cross-shot was almost deflected into his own net by keeper Jorg Butt.

However, Leverkusen had clearly not learned their lesson as the second-half began. Even with two substitutes on the pitch, they were still hit by an immediate sucker punch.

While one of the replacements was Basturk, the other - Dimitar Berbatov - unwittingly flicked on Henry's free-kick and there was Vieira lurking at the far post to stoop low enough to power home his header.

As Arsenal relaxed, Leverkusen did finally start to threaten themselves, with Michael Ballack firing an effort just wide and Seaman producing a fine block from Ze Roberto.

Indeed, the England keeper was at his sharpest to deny Oliver Neuville soon afterwards as Leverkusen went in search of some consolation.

It finally arrived with Sebescen's late effort, but it was far too late to matter and Highbury had already been mesmerised by Bergkamp's inspirational strike before then.

The Dutchman flicked the ball around nonchalantly before lifting his shot over the bemused figure of Butt into the far corner.

It was a fitting moment to cap a wholly impressive display. And it was probably the only time all evening that Arsenal's French contingent were eclipsed.

Teams:

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Campbell, Stepanovs, Lauren (Inamoto 84), Wiltord (Pennant 90), Vieira, Grimandi (Edu 67), Pires, Henry, Bergkamp.

Subs Not Used: Wright, Tavlaridis, Aliadiere, Volz.

Goals: Pires 5, Henry 7, Vieira 48, Bergkamp 83.

Bayer Leverkusen: Butt, Zivkovic (Sebescen 74), Lucio, Nowotny, Placente, Schneider (Basturk 45), Ramelow, Ballack, Ze Roberto, Kirsten (Berbatov 45), Neuville.

Subs Not Used: Juric, Vranjes, Brdaric, Kleine.

Booked: Ballack, Zivkovic, Ramelow.

Goals: Sebescen 86.

Att: 35,019

Ref: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg).