Arsenal's intentions were clear from the start as they battled and scrapped for every ball and never let the home side settle. Their aggression often spilled over in to foul play and was assisted by David Elleray's lenient refereeing.
Boro never got to grips with the Londoner's physical play and were worryingly lightweight up front. Malcolm Christie was given the impossible task of leading the line on his own and was never properly supported by Juninho and Szilard Nemeth.
Nemeth in particular was disappointing, although he was asked to help out defensively on the left flank, he never threatened as an attacking force. Juninho buzzed around characteristically but was too easily outmuscled by the Arsenal backline and the lack of movement in front of him meant he could never produce his trademark incisive through balls.
The first half produced little goalmouth action, Sol Campbell hooked a shot over from a corner and Wiltord shot wide a minute later. Boro's only real effort on goal was a glacing header by Christie from a Juninho freekick that went just wide.
Arsenal continued their high tempo approach in the second half with Boro fading badly. The Gunners broke the deadlock on 48 mins when Henry robbed Doriva wide on the right, he raced towards the Boro goal and picked out Wiltord on the edge of the area with a slide rule pass, the Frenchman made mistake slotting home first time past Mark Schwarzer's right hand.
The visitors continued to dominate without really testing Schwarzer and wrapped up the points with a moment of real class. Ashley Cole raced away down the left and was brought down on the edge of the area, Henry stroked the resultant freekick majestically in to top right hand corner from the angle of the box.
Boro were under par and were too often caught in possession with Jonathan Greening and Doriva the main culprits. Their best spell came when the match was already lost, Juninho volleyed over from 10 yards and the industrious Franck Queudrue lashed a 25 yard freekick just over the bar.
The Riverside crowd was incensed by referee Elleray's performance with some justification, he continually alowed Arsenal to get away with strong arm tactics while pulling up Boro for every infringement however minor.
The Fair Play League is now Boro's only hope of European football next season while Arsenal will surely take the title race down to the wire.
Steve McClaren's priority now must be to tie up a permanent deal for Geremi, his presence in the Boro midfield was sorely missed in this display and the extent of his influence on the team was all too apparent in his absence.