Arsenal atone for Sunday with 5-0 win over Orient

Arsenal 5 Leyton Orient 0. A hat-trick from Nicklas Bendtner ensured there were no further cup embarrassments for Arsenal as they eased past Orient to set up a mouth-watering FA Cup quarter-final clash at Old Trafford on March 12. "It was important to have a response after what happened," said Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, referring to Sunday's amateurish defeat to Birmingham City in the final of the Carling Cup.

Fielding a side with 10 changesto the one that lost 2-1 to the Blues, Arsenal were quickly into their stride against an Orient outfit that looked overawed by playing at the Emirates.

Marouane Chamakh put the Gunners 1-0 up on seven minutes, side-footing a Tomas Rosicky cross past Jamie Jones into the visitors' net. Bendtner scored the second on the half-hour mark with a well-directed header into the top-corner and the Dane made it 3-0 two minutes from the break with a curling 20-yard shot that eluded the despairing Orient keeper.

The fun continued in the second half for the home side, with Bendtner grabbing his hat-trick from the penalty spot on 62 minutes after Kieran Gibbs was felled by Alex Revell. Gael Clichy wrapped up proceedings on 75 minutes with his first goal for the Gunners since 2008.

Wenger later praised the "professional" manner in which his side had gone about the job, saying: "We were always focused. We didn't give them any chances and overall it was a normal victory... it was important that we didn't let ourselves down. We gave ourselves a good chance to focus on the coming weeks because we have now Sunderland on Saturday and Barcelona on Tuesday, then the quarter-final of the FA Cup. This keeps us focused."

As for the prospect of facing United, Wenger promised there would be no repetition of three years ago when a second-string Arsenal lost 4-0 to their bitter rivals in the same competition.

"We will play the team that has the best possible chance to qualify, that is for sure," he said, although he admitted that both clubs must deal with a hectic fixture schedule in the coming weeks.

"It's difficult to say how we approach this game, how they approach this game. For us, it will be after Barcelona and for them it will be before the Champions League [versus Marseille]. Of course, the result at Barcelona will have an influence on that as well."

In the evening's other FA Cup fixture, Manchester City swatted aside the challenge of Aston Villa to set up a quarter-final encounter at home to Reading. The Sky Blues took the lead after just five minutes when Yaya Toure converted Aleksandar Kolarov's corner.

Bad boy Mario Balotelli made it 2-0 on 25 minutes with a classy half-volley (though he was later booked for raising an arm at Chris Herd) and David Silva rifled home the third on 70 minutes. "He played well and it was a wonderful goal," said City boss Roberto Mancini of Balotelli. ·