This was just what le professeur had ordered ahead of Wednesday's game at Bayern Munich: victory with minimal exertion and not an injury in sight. The only shame for Arsene Wenger was that the referee could not declare a knockout after five minutes.
By that stage Arsenal were 2-0 up and, having gone three ahead by half-time, it was game over before Blackburn could advertise for a striker on Teletext. Sylvain Wiltord, who comes at the other end of the scale at £13 million, had done much to destroy the First Division side.
After scoring the first he set up the third for the lively Robert Pires, enough, one might imagine, to secure a place in the team in Munich. Apparently not. "Away from home you need to keep the ball," Wenger said, "so it is important to have someone up front who can do that."
Poor Wiltord must wonder quite what he has to do to start a Champions League game after getting a hat-trick against West Ham the previous weekend and still finding himself on the bench against Spartak Moscow.
It seems Nwankwo Kanu or Dennis Bergkamp will line up with Thierry Henry on Wednesday for a match Arsenal must win to be sure of reaching the quarterfinals.
Wenger will announce today whether Bergkamp will be granted permission to be driven the "very long and tiring" journey to Munich, and Kanu's condition will presumably influence his decision.
The Nigerian is expected to be back in time from a World Cup qualifier in Ghana at the weekend, but his physical state remains to be seen.
Long before Bergkamp departed 68 minutes into a flat encounter the overwhelming feeling was that the priorities of both managers lay elsewhere.
The sight of Patrick Vieira and Henry on Arsenal's bench was confirmation that Wenger was more concerned with Bayern, while among Blackburn's substitutes sat Matt Jansen and Damien Duff.
With a league game at Birmingham on Wednesday and promotion to the Premiership the ultimate ambition, Graeme Souness said: "I'm not taking anything away from Arsenal here but our team selection and our substitutions were with Wednesday in mind. We want to try to keep them as fresh as possible." So much for the magic of the FA Cup.
Arsenal's recovery since their humiliation at Old Trafford has been impressive, but they know a test of far greater intensity awaits at Bayern, who put aside the internal wrangles which followed last week's 3-0 defeat at Lyon by beating Energie Cottbus 2-0 on Saturday to go top of the Bundesliga.
After Wiltord had scored first time from a Pires cross to continue his record of scoring in every round, Tony Adams headed in an Ashley Cole corner and Pires finished off the job before half-time with a neat finish from Wiltord's pass.
The semi-final draw suggests a tougher test lies ahead.
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Cole, Grimandi, Luzhny, Ljungberg (Silvinho 65), Lauren, Pires (Henry 69), Bergkamp (Vieira 69), Wiltord. Subs Not Used: Manninger, Vivas. Goals: Wiltord 2, Adams 5, Pires 36.
Blackburn: Friedel, Curtis, Berg, Berkovic (Duff 45), Taylor, McAteer, Flitcroft, Dunn, Mahon (Bjornebye 45), Hughes (Jansen 61), Bent. Subs Not Used: Hignett, Kelly. Booked: McAteer.
Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
