Sunday afternoons at Highbury are bringing out the best in Arsenal at the moment and yesterday's 3-0 defeat of Newcastle United, which has taken them up to third place, was as impressive as the champions' victory over Manchester United by the same margin a fortnight earlier.

Dennis Bergkamp scored his first goals of the season and was only denied a hat-trick when Shay Given saved the Dutchman's second penalty of the match.

For Ruud Gullit the result ended any illusions that his arrival at St James' Park in the wake of Kenny Dalglish's departure would prompt a swift turn around in fortunes. True, their visit followed a run of three successive league victories with 11 goals scored, but Arsenal proved a rather different propositon than Southampton, Coventry or Nottingham Forest.

Yesterday, for Gullit's team, the experience was comparable to swimming against Atlantic rollers after a series of gentle paddles. Never one to beat about the bush after poor performances, the Newcastle manager declared that "Arsenal showed us where we really stand, the other results merely masked our limitations".

Gullit also made it clear that he expected to be provided with money to rebuild the team. "I always knew what could happen and it showed today," he continued. "Now we have do to something and buy new players. I hope I will have the money to do this."

There was no mention of sexy football. This was hardly surprising since their performance was about as erotic as a sock with a hole in it, or in the case of the defence several pairs of perforated hose.

At the end of August, Gullit saw Newcastle mark his arrival at St James' Park by losing 4-1 at home to Liverpool. But for some brave goalkeeping by Given, Arsenal would have had half a dozen.

Mike Reed's dismissal of Nikos Dabizas for a second bookable offence, the foul which led to Arsenal's first penalty, left Newcastle with 10 men for the last 25 minutes but hardly more vulnerable than they had been with 11. Meeting attackers of the quality of Bergkamp and Marc Overmars with a defence square enough for a hoedown merely invites trouble.

The absence of Robert Lee, who was laid up with a virus, proved more of a loss to Newcastle in midfield than did the ankle injury which denied Arsenal the services of Ray Parlour.

Gullit had only David Batty, recently back but looking rusty, and Gary Speed to put up against Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, whereas Wenger was able to bring in his recent Swedish signing Fredrik Ljungberg as an extra option.

Before the match Dennis Bergkamp appeared to be suffering from a prolonged World Cup hangover. Yesterday, too, his start was inauspicious, a simple chance sliced wide after Petit's centre had cleared the last defender.

Bergkamp looked about as happy as a dying duck in a thunderstorm but in the 21st minute all that changed. A quick pass from Anelka sent him clear of a clutch of tumbling defenders before he dragged the ball wide of the advancing Given and tapped it into the net.

With the spring restored to his step Bergkamp joined Overmars and the Arsenal midfield phalanx in reducing Newcastle's defence to rubble. Just before the half-hour Overmars's lob over Gullit's flat, flabby back-four found Bergkamp clear, onside and with ample time to set up Anelka for a simple second goal.

Newcastle's most promising period in the match came early in the second half after the busy Paul Dalglish had replaced Temuri Ketsbaia as Alan Shearer's partner. David Seaman was forced to change direction in mid-air as he flicked a deflected shot from Nolberto Solano over the crossbar. Then Dabizas, already booked for dissent, departed after bringing down Overmars, and Bergkamp's penalty completed the scoring in the 65th minute.

Four minutes from the end Philippe Albert, brought on to shore up the defence, fouled Bergkamp who then saw a well-struck if poorly directed kick smartly stopped by Given, the only Newcastle player to come out of the match with any real credit.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Vieira, Adams, Ljungberg (Mendez 76), Anelka, Bergkamp, Overmars, Keown (Bould 72), Petit (Hughes 66). Subs Not Used: Manninger, Garde. Goals: Bergkamp 21, Anelka 29, Bergkamp 66 pen.

Newcastle: Given, Pearce, Batty, Shearer, Speed, Ketsbaia (Dalglish 45), Charvet, Glass (Albert 66), Solano, Dabizas, Griffin. Subs Not Used: Barton, Gillespie, Perez. Sent Off: Dabizas (65). Booked: Batty, Dabizas, Speed, Pearce. Att: 38,102

Referee: M Reed (Birmingham).