Van Persie hat-trick inspires rampant Arsenal

Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain showed his increasingly maturity with two goals as Arsenal overwhelmed Blackburn at the Emirates Stadium.

Van Persie opened the scoring with a tap-in after just 79 seconds, Morten Gamst Pedersen equalised with a stunning free-kick only for Van Persie and Oxlade-Chamberlain to put Arsenal into a 3-1 half-time lead.

Mikel Arteta fired home six minutes after the break, while Oxlade-Chamberlain and Van Persie added further goals and Thierry Henry came off the bench to grab a seventh and cap a wonderful day for the Gunners.