Robin van Persie scored a hat trick Saturday to give Arsenal a 5-3 Premier League win at London rival Chelsea.
Arsenal twice came from a goal down and the score was 3-3 until Netherlands striker Van Persie took advantage of some poor defending to score twice in the last six minutes, giving his team a first win at Stamford Bridge in three years and handing Chelsea a second straight defeat.
''You could see how happy we are at the end because we fought hard and every one of us showed character,'' Van Persie said. ''It's a big, big win for us today.''
Victory took Arsenal to 16 points, just three fewer than third-place Chelsea.
Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead in the 14th minute and Van Persie equalized 22 minutes later. John Terry restored the Blues' lead just before halftime, but Andre Santos replied in the 49th and Theo Walcott then put Arsenal ahead.
Juan Mata equalized with 10 minutes remaining but a poor pass by Florent Malouda and a slip from Terry allowed Van Persie to round goalkeeper Petr Cech and roll the ball in unchallenged.
The Dutchman then rounded off a swift counterattack in the final minute for Arsenal's best win at Chelsea since a 5-2 victory in 1934.
After losing three of its first five Premier League games this season, Arsenal has now won three in a row.
''It was a really good game for us, we showed great character coming back from behind,'' midfielder Aaron Ramsey said. ''I think we deserved it in the end, we created a lot of opportunities and took a lot of them.
''We are finally gelling together now and showing what we are capable of doing and this is just an example of that.''
