Anders Limpar scored from almost 50 yards to sharpen the humiliation of Liverpool's heaviest defeat of the season at Arsenal.
Ian Wright twice contributed to an Easter parade of glorious goals as George Graham's abdicating champions preserved their slim mathematical hope of a UEFA Cup place.
Not since they crashed 8-1 57 years ago have Liverpool been so badly mauled at Highbury. But as well as a pre-occupation with the FA Cup final against Sunderland next month, they were undermined by injuries to Mark Wright, Bruce Grobbelaar, Ronnie Whelan, Michael Thomas and David Burrows.
That left Arsenal to unwrap and gobble up their soft-centred defence at leisure and stretch their unbeaten run to 15 games since they lost 2-0 at Anfield in January.
They made the perfect start when Limpar's sixth minute corner from the right spun off Mike Marsh's attempted interception to David Hillier from the edge of the area and his low drive through a crowded area gave him a first senior goal for the club.
Ten minutes later Limpar angled a lob over the top of the Liverpool defence to send Wright clear. The 2.5 million pound striker cracked his 25th league goal of the season past Mike Hooper from the edge of the box.
Hooper dashed out of his area to deny Kevin Campbell after 32 minutes but his presence on the edge of the box cost Liverpool dearly in the 40th minute.
Limpar picked up a loosely-struck Liverpool pass and appeared to be dithering just a couple of yards inside the Liverpool half until he spotted Hooper off his line. The Swedish international's lob showed not only breathtaking audacity as it sailed over the embarrassed goalkeeper.
Two minutes into the second half, Paul Merson sent Wright through and again Hooper dashed out. This time the England striker hooked the ball round him and calmly steered it into the empty net from 25 yards.
Arsenal should have added to their haul but Hillier volleyed over, Hooper denied Wright his hat-trick with an excellent save and in the 78th minute Limpar crashed a shot against the underside of the bar.
No wonder the Liverpool fans behind Hooper's goal refused to return the ball at one point to try to save their side from further damage.
Liverpool caretaker manager Ronnie Moran admitted after the defeat: "I'm sick inside, but you can't show that - life must go on".
But the FA Cup finalist's heaviest league defeat for nine years will have done nothing to aid Graeme Souness's recuperation from heart surgery and Moran said: "It was embarrassing the way we lost the goals. That was Sunday league defending, but it is not just only the men at the back who were at fault. It's the first time in all my years I've been at Liverpool that I've seen two goals go in from that far out."
Pick of the bunch was Limpar's chip and Moran added: "I'll give the lad top marks for vision. I've only ever seen Pele try that before. But the goalkeeper was not in the wrong position, he should have been prevented from doing that, it was bad play on our side."
Arsenal manager George Graham said: "It was a great goal, great vision. It was so far out, it had power as well as skill". But he admitted that Liverpool's problems detracted from the impact of the victory, saying: "They were playing a bit suicidal with their offsides, and with better finishing we could have had more. But they looked a bit tired. They have had a lot of injuries, and that was probably not a normal Liverpool performance."
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