Theo Walcott hit his second hat-trick of the season as Arsenal put seven past Newcastle in a thrilling encounter at the Emirates Stadium.
The 23-year-old, whose Arsenal future is still in doubt, opened the scoring after 20 minutes before bagging another two in the second-half to help lift his side up to fifth in the Premier League table.
Rumoured Gunners target Demba Ba himself struck twice against his prospective suitors but the striker’s brace was not enough to guide his team towards their first away league win of the campaign.
Walcott’s first goal came from a cool side-footed finish but Senegal international Ba equalised for the visitors on the stroke of half-time.
Arsene Wenger’s side came out for the second half firing on all cylinders as they went in search of three points to stay within touching distance of Chelsea who play tomorrow.
And it took them just five minutes to re-take the lead after the interval, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain finding the back of the net.
But Newcastle were not ready to lie down and suffer yet another away Premier League defeat and they pulled themselves level again through Sylvain Marveaux.
But the game was to continue swinging back and forth as Arsenal went in front for the third time through Lukas Podolski, before Ba hit his second of the match just five minutes later.
That was enough for Magpies boss Alan Pardew, who visibly signalled to his players to settle for the point, but Arsenal weren’t finished and a penalty box scramble led to Walcott firing the ball into the roof of Tim Krul’s net with slightly more than 15 minutes still to play.
A quarter of an hour proved enough time for Wenger’s men to seal the win in style, as Walcott’s pinpoint cross found the head of substitute Olivier Giroud, before the Frenchman added his second and Arsenal’s sixth of the game with a powerful low finish.
But the star of the show was undoubtedly Walcott, who claimed his hat-trick in injury time. After dancing through the Newcastle defence, the England international could have claimed a penalty after being clipped in the box, but he recovered to chip past Krul and claim the match ball.
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