Henry was back in action for the first time in five weeks after recovering from sciatica and he played like a man determined to make up for lost time.

The France striker opened the scoring with a penalty, set-up Justin Hoyte's strike and won the penalty that Robin van Persie converted before the Dutchman scored his second in the last minute.

Henry was in irrepressible form as the Gunners moved into fourth place in the Premiership and provided a spark missing from Arsenal's attack when they ended 2006 with a dispiriting defeat at Sheffield United.

The victory must have been just as sweet for Arsene Wenger as he got one over on Alan Pardew in his first meeting with the Charlton boss since their touchline row in November.

Pardew, then in charge of West Ham, celebrated his side's late winner right in front of Wenger, who responded by shoving and swearing at his rival.

Wenger was fined 10,000 pounds by the English Football Association for his antics, while Pardew has a personal hearing over the incident on Thursday.

The bosses kept their distance and their emotions in check throughout the match before a brief handshake at full-time.

Wenger had little reason to lose his cool as Gilberto Silva set the tone for a dominant Arsenal display in the second minute with a fierce long range strike that flashed just over the crossbar.

Pardew's appointment on Christmas Eve had sparked a upturn in Charlton's fortunes as a return of four points from two games gave the south London club renewed hope of climbing out of the bottom three.

But they never looked capable of stifling Arsenal in the way so many teams have at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal were producing some mesmerising moves but when they finally took the lead after half an hour the goal came via a fortunate deflection and some immature defending.

When Djimi Traore blocked Cesc Fabregas's long range shot the ball looped goalwards and Carson could only push it onto the bar.

Van Persie was the closest Arsenal player to the rebound but he would not have reached it before El Karkouri, so why Osei Sankofa tugged the striker's shirt only he knows.

Referee Mike Riley wasted no time in awarding the penalty and sending off the inexperienced Charlton right-back.

Henry stepped up to send Scott Carson the wrong way from the spot and celebrated by running to the bench, where he embarked on a prolonged dance with injured teammate Emmanuel Adebayor.

Henry was denied a second goal moments later as Carson managed to tip over his free-kick as it arrowed towards the top left corner.

That was only temporary reprieve though as Arsenal crafted a breathtaking second goal on the stroke of half-time.

After a sweeping move that flowed from left to right across midfield, Hoyte played a one-two with Henry and surged on to the return before rolling his shot into the far corner for his first goal for the club.

Arsenal were tormenting the visitors and a third goal was inevitable. The only surprise was it took until the 76th minute to arrive when Henry was brought down by Souleymane Diawara.

Henry handed the spot-kick duties to van Persie and the Dutchman smashed his shot past Carson.

Van Persie wasn't finished yet and he completed the rout in the last minute with a superb chip over Carson.