Henry hat-trick keeps Arsenal in command

Arsenal 3 West Ham United 1

The West Ham supporters' anthem, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles includes the line "Fortune's always hiding". Yesterday fortune broke cover, teaming up with Thierry Henry to maintain Arsenal's championship challenge and send West Ham back to the foot of the Premiership.

Henry's hat-trick was the classic treble, the Frenchman scoring with either foot and, a rarity this, his head. But the first two goals were mired in controversy. His 14th-minute penalty followed a contentious decision compounded by the concomitant dismissal of Steve Lomas. His second, with 20 minutes remaining and West Ham holding on for an improbable point, came after Dennis Bergkamp appeared to strike Lee Bowyer in the face.

Glenn Roeder, West Ham's quietly incensed manager, said: "The referee [Mike Dean] is adamant about the first one and I accept that. Steve did brush Robert Pires even if players now don't need an invitation to fall over. But the second one was the crucial one. I saw it clearly. Dennis pushed Lee away with his hand. My gut feeling is he knows he got that one wrong and that one was the killer. People will say they got a third [goal] but the second changed the game. We had showed terrific resilience and the goalkeeper [David James] had played extremely well."

Arsène Wenger, unsurprisingly, saw things differently. Wenger, who has no trouble seeing incidents when the conclusion favours Arsenal, said: "It looked a penalty, Robert was clearly in front. I couldn't see why he should [otherwise] go down because he had the ball. I was sorry he was sent off but that is the rules."

On the second goal he added: "It did not look intentional. Dennis caught him with the elbow but the player ran into him. That kind of thing can happen when you are protecting the ball and a player tries to close you down."

There remains the possibility that Bergkamp, recently fined for treading on the Blackburn defender Nils-Eric Johansson, will be charged by the Football Association. However, since the referee said he saw the incident no action is likely unless Dean suggests it. The FA may also investigate a gesture made by David Seaman towards the West Ham support who were ridiculing him. Again, punishment is unlikely.

The victory restored Arsenal's five-point lead over Manchester United. With Newcastle a further five points adrift it looks a two-horse race, but Newcastle have a game in hand and home matches to come against both contenders. Even so, Manchester United's visit to Highbury, scheduled for 21 April but probably to be re-arranged as that clashes with the Champions' League quarter-finals, increasingly looks like the last chance for Arsenal to be reeled in.

Controversy aside, they were far too good for West Ham yesterday and, but for a superb performance by James, would have approached double figures. His defence had no answer to the pace and trickery of Henry, who was also denied five times by James and created fine chances for Bergkamp and Gilberto Silva.

West Ham had begun brightly, despite missing Michael Carrick as well as Paolo Di Canio and Frédéric Kanouté, but were soon stretched. After Bergkamp had narrowly failed to turn in Henry's cross, Gary Breen was booked for bringing Henry down off the ball. He put the resultant free-kick wide but West Ham's reprieve was brief.

Pires darted in from the right to receive a sublime Bergkamp pass. Lomas, who had tracked him from the left flank, was on his shoulder and, as Pires sought to sidestep him, dragged an arm across his shirt. It was a foul of the type for which only away teams are punished. Lomas departed, Henry sent James the wrong way, and any semblance of a contest appeared to have gone.

West Ham retreated, leaving Jermain Defoe to fight what seemed an unequal contest against Sol Campbell and Martin Keown, especially as his only service came from James' booming goal-kicks.

At the other end, James looked similarly stretched, with his defence causing as many problems as Arsenal's attack. From the restart after Arsenal's goal Breen underhit a back-pass and James had to rush from his goal to deny Henry. In successive minutes just before the half-hour, Breen passed the ball to Pires, an error which led to Sylvain Wiltord shooting wide; Ian Pearce inadvertently forced an alert save with a mis-directed clearing header; and Christian Dailly gave possession to Henry, who again exercised James.

By now the game resembled a training practice, attack versus defence. All West Ham had offered was a bobbling Joe Cole shot which Seaman had gathered carefully, and a wayward free-kick from Bowyer. Then, six minutes before the interval, Cole pressured Edu deep into the Arsenal half. The Brazilian turned to pass back to Seaman but Defoe had read the situation. He nipped in to nutmeg Seaman for a surprise equaliser.

The goal changed Highbury's mood from relaxed to anxious. James continued to defy Arsenal almost single-handedly until the moment Bergkamp fended off Bowyer and crossed for Henry to score his first headed Premiership goal. Had Dean interpreted things differently it could have been 1-1 and 10 v 10, for Bergkamp had already been booked. Had anyone marked Henry, it could at least have remained 1-1.

James remained defiant but, with four minutes left, Ray Parlour launched a trademark counter-attack. Pires squared and Henry, so unmarked there was not even a defender trailing in his wake, tapped in.

Goals: Henry pen (14) 1-0; Defoe (40) 1-1; Henry (70) 2-1; Henry (86) 3-1.

Arsenal (4-4-2): Seaman 6; Lauren 6, Keown 6, Campbell 6, Van Bronckhorst 6; Wiltord 4 (Luzhny, 87), Gilberto Silva 6, Edu 4 (Parlour 5, 67), Pires 6; Bergkamp 7 (Jeffers, 87), Henry 9. Substitutes not used: Taylor (gk), Touré.

West Ham United (4-4-1-1): James 9; Dailly 4, Breen 4, Pearce 5, Winterburn 5 (Minto, 81); Lomas 4, Bowyer 4, Cissé 4 (Moncur, 85), Sinclair 4; Cole 5; Defoe 6. Substitutes not used: Hutchison, Van der Gouw (gk), Johnson.

Referee: M Dean (Wirral) 5.

Booked: Arsenal: Bergkamp, Lauren, Parlour. West Ham: Breen. Sent off: West Ham: Lomas.

Man of the match: Henry.

Attendance: 38,053.