report Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City
Arsenal were primed and ready while Manchester City reserves were all over the place.
Arsene Wenger has already shown he means business off the pitch with his acquisition of £33million Alexis Sanchez as part of his big-money, close-season spending.
His FA Cup winners responded here at Wembley by showing they mean business on the pitch as well.
The big guns for the defending Premier League champions may have been absent from this contest but Arsenal's attitude was still impressive as they put Manuel Pellegrini's side to the sword.
By contrast City were awful. Particularly during the first half. Few of the players thrown in took the opportunity presented to them to place any kind of selection pressure on Pellegrini.
Instead, the backline battered by the Wenger boys will have no complaints when they next turn out in the Capital One Cup.
Because City are better than this. Much better. At times Arsenal, who need no invitation to stroke the ball about, played them off the park.
At times the Gunners glided past their Manchester rivals as if they were not there. And while, so often, they are prone to being let down by their lack of cutting edge, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey served notice that there will be more goals from midfield this season before Olivier Giroud came off the bench to curl in a worldie.
One other note. Yes, City were without some of their heavyweights but Arsenal were also missing Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker, Theo Walcott and Lukasz Podolski.
To be fair, jobless David Moyes and Manchester United - bidding to break back into the top four after finishing seventh last season - serve as a stark reminder that victory in this contest is not a reason for the Gunners to get ahead of themselves.
But Wenger, his men and Arsenal's fans can have far more optimism going into this season than they have had perhaps for the last ten years or so.
Cazorla opened the scoring on 22 minutes with a clinical diagonal finish with his left foot. The Spaniard struck, having turned Gael Clichy, when Jack Wilshere was fouled as he tried to get onto Yaya Sanogo's ball across the 18 yard line. Keeper Willy Caballero - making his debut in place of Joe Hart - had no chance.
Arsenal doubled their advantage three minutes before half time with Ramsey adding to his explosion of goals from last season.
Special credit must go to the selfless Sanogo for holding up the ball long enough for the Welshman to make it into the box, tee himself up and squeeze the ball between Cabellero and Gael Clichy.
Giroud then stepped off the bench to send in an effort so sumptious that it should have been preceded by a drum roll. Holding off another debutant, Bruno Zuculini, the France striker again left Cabellero clutching at thin air. It is bizarre to think there are so many Gunners fans who feel Giroud is not good enough for the club.
His effort to put the icing on this particular cake suggests he is in the mood to prove them wrong.
As for City, the likes of Kompany, Demechelis and (they hope) Mangala will be hoping to ensure they are better than this by the time the games begin at Newcastle next Saturday. They will need to be.
