SEVEN goals in eight days for Thierry Henry and Arsenal are not only unbeaten in

33 Barclaycard Premiership matches but also unstoppable. Anyone with the temerity to ask why the France forward could not do it against Chelsea in their European Cup quarter-final was liable to be thrown out of Highbury and never allowed back.

Henry and Arsenal seemed on the brink of collapse when they lost to Chelsea, with the striker taken off and complaining of injury. A hat-trick against Liverpool and last night’s four against Leeds United has been an emphatic response to what had seemed a crushing disappointment. Arsenal are six points away from the championship, an easy target that could be reduced if Chelsea or Manchester United drop points.

There will be a treble for Henry, if not for his team, because as well as the title he is all but guaranteed to be named players’ Player and Footballer of the Year for a second consecutive season. It would be a unique achievement from the man Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, hailed as “the world’s best forward” after he took his tally to 37 for the season, almost as many as Leeds have managed between them. His fourth last night was his 150th in Arsenal’s colours in his 250th appearance, a remarkable record of ruthless consistency.

With their dreadful goal difference taking another battering, Leeds could be six points away from safety by the time their rivals have played this afternoon. Three years ago today they qualified for the European Cup semi-finals, but relegation, and a renewed financial crisis, will be almost inevitable if they fail to beat Portsmouth next week. Even after all the trials and tribulations of the past few years, the worst has yet to befall Leeds. It is cruel on a player such as Alan Smith, who did his best last night to prevent a humiliation, but Eddie Gray’s tactics invited a rout. “They decided that instead of defending deep and losing one or two-nil, they would really go for it,” Wenger said. And, as a result, they lost by five.

Three goals up by half-time, it is frightening to think how many Arsenal might have scored if they had been playing to their capabilities. For a 20-minute spell after they took the lead through Robert Pires they were so sloppy that an agitated Wenger was regularly off the bench. He would have had some valid criticisms prepared for the interval, but to share them with his players might have seemed curmudgeonly. Sprinkled on top of some ordinary football, at least by their own high standards, were three superb goals and the promise of more to come.

The first, after only six minutes, was so swiftly executed that it took several replays to piece together the move that took the ball from Jens Lehmann’s penalty area, via Gilberto Silva and Sylvain Wiltord, and on to Dennis Bergkamp. The Dutchman’s pass was perfectly weighted and Pires did not even have to break stride as he hit a curling shot from the edge of the area past Paul Robinson. It was his thirteenth Premiership goal of the season from midfield.

With Smith the first line of defence, Leeds set about pressing Arsenal, but, if it yielded some joy for the next 20 minutes, the risks must have been obvious. They were, after all, playing against one of the world’s quickest counter- attacking sides and, in Henry, a forward who likes nothing better than to race into space beyond a slow defence.

And so, just as Leeds might have thought they were giving Arsenal a decent game, Henry struck in the 27th minute. Looking five yards offside but played on by Michael Duberry, he waited for Gilberto’s through-ball and ran 40 yards before slipping a left-foot shot past Robinson for his 26th league goal in 32 games. No 27 was to follow five minutes later when Bergkamp’s one-two with Wiltord was interrupted just inside the penalty area when Duberry used his elbow to block the ball. Henry’s run-up for the penalty was longer than a fast bowler’s and Robinson should have read what was to come; the chip from the spot into the centre of the goal.

Leeds were stunned, so much so that they made no changes at half-time but continued to march blindly forward in defence. Stopping Henry is not an easy task, but Gray’s men seemed determined to make it impossible.

In the 50th minute, Gilberto again put Henry through and he completed his hat-trick with a crisp right-foot finish. There was just time for Wiltord to miss a sitter before Henry became the first Arsenal player to score four goals at Highbury since Ian Wright in 1991.

Duberry was one of about six players who appeared to be chasing after Henry as he picked up the ball from Pires just inside the Leeds half. The striker outsprinted all of them and, even when Gary Kelly clipped his ankles, he managed to score as he fell. “He’s been playing a bit more centrally and less on the wing,” Wenger said. Not bad for a player with a bad back.

ARSENAL (4-4-2): J Lehmann — Lauren, K Touré, S Campbell, G Clichy — S Wiltord, Gilberto Silva (sub: Edu, 69min), P Vieira, R Pires (sub: R Parlour, 72) — D Bergkamp (sub: J A Reyes, 72), T Henry.
Substitutes not used: M Keown, G Stack.

LEEDS UNITED (4-4-2): P Robinson — G Kelly, S Caldwell, M Duberry, I Harte — J Pennant, L Radebe (sub: N Barmby, 72), D Matteo, J Milner — A Smith, M Viduka (sub: Simon Johnson, 84).
Substitutes not used: A Lennon, M Kilgallon, S Carson.

Referee: D Gallagher.