MU 8 - 2 Arsenal - Yes! It is true

Wayne Rooney led Manchester United to a spectacular eight-goal demolition of Arsenal on a day the champions answered an emphatic title statement from Manchester City.

It was a classic case of anything you can do, we can do better. First City, inspired by four-goal Edin Dzeko, thumped Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane.

Then United responded by thrashing Arsenal 8-2 at Old Trafford to overtake City at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

All smiles: Wayne Rooney stole the show on a spectacular day for Manchester United

Rooney grabbed a hat-trick for United - on a day that established Manchester as the powerbase of English football - to inflict the heaviest defeat on Arsenal since 1896 and pile more pressure on under-fire boss Arsene Wenger.

'The performance today was incredible and we deserved the result,' Rooney said. 'Whether or not Arsenal have a full-strength squad every time we play them we have a go and try to score. They had some players out but that should take nothing away from us.'

Rooney also reached a landmark 150 goals for the club, continuing a trend against the Gunners.

'A lot of my milestone goals have come against Arsenal,' he added. 'My first goal when I was at Everton was against them and my first United goal in the Premier League came against them too.'

But United manager Sir Alex Ferguson sounded apologetic for increasing his rival’s misery.

Landmark: Rooney's goals took him above 150 for Manchester United

He said: ‘We could easily have had more goals, but, to be honest, I didn’t want to score more than eight. I was more than satisfied with the outcome.

‘Arsenal were very weakened, but you still have to do the job, which we did with some fantastic goals.’

The result appeared to take its toll on Wenger, who looked drained but vowed to fight on.

He is about to wrap up the £3million signing of Monaco striker Park Chu-young but seemed on the point of despair over a collective failure to strengthen in other areas, with time running out before the transfer window closes on Wednesday.

‘I am very open to the idea of finding the right players and there is money,’ said Wenger, who denied trying to sign Everton’s Mikel Arteta.