Arsenal 2-1 Coventry

It took a lot longer than he would have liked for Sylvain Wiltord to persuade Bordeaux of the wisdom in accepting £12million for his transfer. But his impact on Highbury was instant.

By the time exhausted Wiltord was replaced by fellow Frenchman Thierry Henry 23 minutes from the end, delighted Arsenal fans had already begun to debate whether Arsene Wenger might have achieved the seemingly impossible in unearthing a new Ian Wright.

The same effervescent, jack-in-thebox style bolstered by searing pace and an eagle eye for the goal scoring opportunity.

It was all too much for startled Coventry. And, when Wiltord cracked what promises to be the first of many Premiership strikes, he received the added bonus of generous applause from Arsenal's greatest goalscorer.

Wright, who scored 185 Arsenal goals, was a delighted onlooker and would have recognised the style of Wiltord's opener.

There was a hint of offside when Oleg Luzhny launched a forward pass over the top of Coventry's advancing defensive unit. Ray Parlour appeared to have put the claim beyond doubt in touching the ball on to Wiltord but the Frenchman was allowed to continue to cut inside Richard Shaw before depositing a superbly left-foot shot inside the near post of goalkeeper Magnus Hedman.

Wiltord's strong running and elusive movement created acres of space for Dennis Bergkamp and the Dutchman will know that he should have taken some of the openings created for him.

In truth, Arsenal were so much in command of proceedings that Coventry, uncommon victors in their previous two away games, looked like a team making up the numbers in a testimonial.

Certainly the issue should have been determined long before the interval with Freddie Ljungberg squandering a further invitation to put the result beyond reasonable doubt shortly after the start of the second period with a shot that rebounded off the legs of Hedman.

Just when it seemed that Coventry had exhausted the threat from Wiltord, Arsenal chose to demonstrate their burgeoning strength in depth with the introduction of top-scorer Henry in the 67th minute.

And when, five minutes later, the Frenchman created the opening from which Paolo Vernazza - a replacement for Parlour who had exited along with Wiltord - struck to power the Gunners further in front, the game seemed to have been terminated as any kind of a contest.

But Arsenal inexplicably allowed themselves to become much too confident and casual with further goalscoring opportunities squandered before being severely jolted by a most-unexpected Coventry reprisal.

Skipper Tony Adams was booked in his first game since being injured with England in Paris a couple of weeks ago for a foul on the Peruvian substitute Ysrael Zuniga on the edge of the penalty area 10 minutes from time.

Captain Mustapha Hadji's set-piece offering was straight out of the David Beckham repertoire leaving England goalkeeper David Seaman flat-footed as the ball by-passed all of Arsenal's defences.

A rousing finale? Well, much the same as before with Arsenal proceeding to dilly and dally in front of goal and, within the six minutes added on for stoppages, Coventry might have forced them to pay dearly for such complacency.

But a thunderous effort from Marcus Hall thudded back from the face of the crossbar with Seaman hope-lessly beaten and Arsenal had escaped with nothing more hurtful than a severe warning.

Even so, the Gunners were able to demonstrate that, over the long term, they will probably again represent the major threat to Manchester United in pursuit of the Premiership prize.