If this is the best the Premier League can do, then you can give Manchester City the title now. Not just this season's, but next as well. And maybe the one after that. While Pep Guardiola remains the doyen of the Etihad it's hard to see how this multi-purpose, multi-talented team can be stopped.
It's less than a year since City needed a miraculous comeback on the final day of last season to win their second title in a row. It's less than a month since they were eight points behind in this title race. They're still not top even now. But the psychological damage inflicted on Arsenal and the rest of the league with this display is going to be hard to quantify.
Under Mikel Arteta Arsenal have a young team full of promise. They have been excellent this season. Despite a recent wobble, they came to the Etihad confident of restating their credentials. They left with their eyes wide open to the gulf in class between these teams.
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Whether it was the precision brilliance of Kevin De Bruyne. The superman qualities of Erling Haaland. The solidity of John Stones and Ruben Dias. The ruthless power of Rodri. All over the pitch City exerted their dominance.
On Tuesday Guardiola had said perfection doesn't exist in football. He's probably right. If this had been perfect it would have been 10. Haaland would be closer to 55 goals than 50. But from box to box this is as close as you can get.
After the third goal had gone in to rip the heart out of Arsenal, the City fans turned their back on the pitch to perform the Poznan with the kind of collective unison usually reserved for the players in blue on the pitch. It came during a break in play for treatment. When the action resumed all eyes were back on the pitch. This was unmissable.
A game billed - correctly - as the biggest of the Premier League season was turning into a procession. This was the coronation before the Coronation.
City were collectively brilliant against the bewildered Gunners, but it felt like an evening when they were led from the front by the irrepressible De Bruyne and Haaland. The Premier League's best player in recent years and one who is rewriting the record books were just too good for Arsenal to stop.
De Bruyne should have won City a penalty inside two minutes, only for Michael Oliver to mysteriously decide it was the Belgian who had committed the foul on Thomas Partey. It felt like a let-off for Arsenal, but it turned out to only be a temporary reprieve.
The first 45 minutes, in particular, were a statement from City - led by De Bruyne and Haaland. This was the champions on home turf saying to their challengers: You cannot live with us. Arsenal finished the half with 40 per cent possession and just two shots. It was total control and total domination.
It took seven minutes for the goal to arrive. Haaland was so strong against Rob Holding that he made the centre-back look like a toddler trying to attract the attention of a parent. The striker brilliantly controlled John Stones' long ball upfield and swept it into the path of De Bruyne, marauding clear from halfway. He sprinted towards Gabriel, feinted left, went right and arrowed a shot past Aaron Ramsdale.
Haaland's assist was a sign of things to come. This was the 22-year-old engaging peak beast mode. Holding and Gabriel had no answer to the power, pace and movement of the striker.
He could have created another for De Bruyne when he played him again midway through the half, only for Gabriel and Ben White to block him out. Then it became a personal duel between Haaland and Ramsdale.
Four times the goalkeeper denied the forward his 49th goal of the season. All of them were excellent saves. When Haaland did side-foot a finish past him, after another sweeping move, the net somehow didn't ripple. The Etihad's celebrations turned to a murmur of disbelief when it became clear the ball was the other side of the post.
But Haaland's off night in front of goal, at least until injury time - didn't matter. If anything, it only accentuated the improvements he has made in his all-round game.
De Bruyne had turned creator to send a free-kick onto the head of John Stones for City's second on the stroke of half-time and within 10 minutes of the restart the game was done.
Arsenal didn't help themselves. Martin Odegaard passed it straight to Haaland, who galloped towards goal and then turned provider again, timing his pass to De Bruyne perfectly.
It looked like Haaland would have to settle for a night when he was the supporting cast rather than the lead man. But just after his headband had been tossed away and his blond locks set free came his moment. A left-footed finish brought about that 49th goal of the season.
It's difficult, bordering on the impossible, to see how City don't win the league from here. They could be top by Sunday night and they have an easier run-in than Arsenal.
Looking even further ahead, Arteta's team will improve for this experience. Maybe Liverpool will come again under Jurgen Klopp. Perhaps Manchester United's millions spent in the transfer market will finally yield a team capable of a title challenge. But stopping this version of City? Good luck. At the moment they look like they have every base covered.
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