Thierry Henry supplied the soft-shoe shuffle and a glint of steel as Arsenal marched to the Premiership summit in imperious style.

Two goals from the Frenchman and one from Freddie Ljunberg were the cold statistics which saw the Gunners leapfrog Manchester United and Liverpool to lead the league into April.

But they hardly told the true story of the sheer brilliance of Arsene Wenger's side as they ripped apart Charlton in a derby which was more men against boys than north against east London.

Quite simply the clinical ease with which Arsenal have dissected their opponents over this Easter holiday has been the hallmark of champions.

And no-one should now bet against them doing what Wenger believes they are capable - winning all their remaining matches to carry off both league and FA Cup in style.

Wenger accomplished that feat in his second year in charge at Highbury in 1997-98, but few who witnessed Arsenal demolish Sunderland on Saturday and Charlton by the same margin could disagree that this Arsenal vintage looks even better.

They now lie one point ahead of Liverpool and two ahead of United with a game in hand on both, who each have the distraction of the Champions League to contend with over the next few weeks.

Arsenal's timing in going for the kill could not be more perfect.

Henry, who will spearhead France's bid to retain the World Cup, is in spectacular form, taking his goal tally for the season to 30 and leading counter-attacks of quite breathtaking speed and accuracy.

At times with Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Sylvain Wiltord and Ljunberg swooping down on Charlton's defence Arsenal resembled a squadron of spitfires attacking out of the hazy sun.

At times they were almost as effective as they demonstrated just why they have not lost away all season and not domestically anywhere since Christmas.

As it happened Charlton should have taken the lead within two minutes when Jonatan Johansson's cross flashed across the penalty area but just eluded the lunge of Jason Euell.

If that had gone in maybe it would have been a different story. But it didn't and from then on it was another Arsenal holiday stroll.

They took the lead in the 16th minute and it was breathtaking in its simplicity. Sol Campbell played a through ball which scythed through the Charlton defence and was picked up by Henry.

From the moment he latched onto the ball there was an almost inevitable groan from the home supporters as the Frenchman raced ahead, opened up his body and passed the ball into the net past the despairing dive of Kiely.

Four minutes later Ljungberg extended Arsenal's lead but again it was Henry who unlocked the Charlton defence.

His wonderful reverse pass found Bergkamp and when he rounded Kiely it seemed the Dutchman must score.

Uncharacteristically, however, Bergkamp mis-hit his shot from an acute angle but such is the flow of momentum in the Gunners direction these days that the ball rolled gently into the path of Ljungberg who tapped home the Gunners second from three yards.

Arsenal were now in an imperious groove and as Charlton pressed spiritedly to get back into the game they again broke away, this time Sylvain Wiltord outstripping the home defence.

The Frenchman looked up and spotted his compatriot Henry sprinting in acres of space through the middle. One precision square pass and it was all over, Henry virtually walking in his second goal of the game to give Arsenal a commanding 3-0 lead inside 25 minutes.

Charlton never gave up but from that moment their record of being unbeaten in 12 consecutive London derbys was always going to fall.

One sour note for Arsenal was an injury to England's Ashley Cole, who was replaced by Oleg Luzhny in the first-half.

But they were barely troubled, being able to ease their way through a second-half, in which Martin Keown proved he has not lost any of his positional skill or pace, despite it being his first game since breaking his leg three months ago.

There was just one scare - David Seaman producing an acrobatic fingertip save from Jason Euell who had been put through by Luke Young.

Other than that everything looked just champion for Arsenal.

Teams:

Charlton: Kiely, Young, Rufus, Costa, Powell, Stuart, Parker, Kinsella, Robinson (Lisbie 65), Johansson, Euell.

Subs Not Used: Ilic, Bart-Williams, Konchesky, Fortune.

Booked: Robinson, Costa.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Cole (Luzhny 29), Keown, Campbell, Vieira, Grimandi, Ljungberg, Wiltord, Henry, Bergkamp (Edu 81).

Subs Not Used: Wright, Jeffers, Kanu.

Booked: Luzhny, Vieira.

Goals: Henry 16, Ljungberg 21, Henry 25.

Att: 26,339

Ref: A D'Urso (Billericay).