Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (left) rounds Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson to score his side's third goal during their English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London yesterday.

Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick as Arsenal crushed a woeful Blackburn Rovers 7-1 to chalk up its first English Premier League victory of 2012 at the Emirates Stadium in London yesterday.

Thierry Henry, with his first league goal since he returned to the club last month, completed the rout with virtually the last kick of the game after coming on as a 68th-minute substitute with teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain netting twice and Mikel Arteta adding the other.

Van Persie opened the scoring after only two minutes and added two more to take his league tally to 22 goals for the season and 28 in all competitions as Arsene Wenger's men racked up their biggest win of the season and climbed from seventh to fifth in the table.

Blackburn, which was totally outclassed and reduced to 10 men when Gael Givet was sent off for scything down van Persie just before halftime, was briefly in contention when Morten Gamst Pedersen made it 1-1 from a freekick after 31 minutes.

However, once van Persie put Arsenal back in front seven minutes later with a close-range effort, the contest was as good as over with Theo Walcott having a superb match and the Rovers defense struggling to cope as Arsenal scored five times in 24 minutes.

Another positive for the Gunners was the performance of 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored his first two league goals against the hapless away side which fell from 18th to 19th and remains deep in relegation trouble with pressure again mounting on beleaguered manager Steve Kean.

Six other matches were being played on a bitterly-cold day with league leader Manchester City hosting Fulham.

Meanwhile, former England international midfielder Owen Hargreaves's career is back in the balance after City manager Roberto Mancini said a gamble on his fitness had backfired.

Hargreaves, 31, was released by Manchester United last year after a series of injuries curtailed his playing time at Old Trafford, and City took a calculated gamble on the player who was highly influential for both club and country at his peak.

Now, however, after making just four appearances for City this season and scoring one goal, Hargreaves is injured again and City is unlikely to offer him a new deal when his current one-year contract ends in the summer.

"We took a gamble on Owen because he was such a fantastic player," the City manager said.

"We thought we could try to get him fit in two or three months and then he would be able to play. But it hasn't worked out quite like that.

"When you have a player who hasn't played for two years and he starts to train every day there are small problems all the time. Problems in the knees or the hamstrings. So Owen hasn't been able to play when we have needed him.

"He may play again this season but he is not ready now. I hope eventually he will be able to play all the time. He deserves to, because he is a really nice guy."

The Canadian-born player made his name with Bayern Munich between 2000 and 2007 before moving to United where he made only 27 league appearances in four seasons. He also played 42 times for England.