Arsenal revived the spirits of Christmas past as a Thierry Henry hat-trick, his first for the club, led the demolition of hapless Leicester City in a Boxing Day battering that, had it occurred in the ring rather than on the football field, would have been stopped long before the full distance.

Henry led the Fox-hunt on a day traditionally reserved as a prime occasion for those who wear red coats and sip from the stirrup-cup before their morning's dubious sport and in the end this was almost as cruel.

But as Patrick Vieira, substitute Fredrik Ljungberg - with his first touch after replacing Kanu - and skipper Tony Adams with a ferocious finish right at the death all joined in the slaughter it left Arsenal in the market for a miracle reminiscent of the one they pulled off three years ago.

On Boxing Day, 1997, they trailed leaders Manchester United by eight points in the championship race but then beat Leicester 2-1 at Highbury to start an 18-match unbeaten run which eventually wrested the title with two games to spare.

Victory that day was only achieved in the face of a battling Leicester blitz in the last 10 minutes after Arsenal had seemed to be strolling home.

And there was a haunting reminder here as, after Henry - with a stunning 34th minute rocket from Robert Pires' thoughtfully pulled-back corner - and Vieira - with a cheeky lob over Tim Flowers following a dynamic 50th minute burst into the box - had complete control only to almost throw it away when nervous goalkeeper Alex Manninger dropped the ball straight onto Ade Akinbiyi's toe.

Akinbiyi snapped up the 53rd minute gift and, for a few minutes, the jitters were all around the Arsenal defence in which #1million Latvian Igors Stepanovs was making his debut in place of injured Martin Keown after Saturday's 4-0 flop at Liverpool.

But with striking talent like Henry, Arsenal no longer have to rely only on grit and resolution when the going gets tough.

The French international striker, who cannot seem to score away from home but who at Highbury looks every inch his country's player of the year, an award he received last week, soon turned the tide again.

Freed from the tenacious attentions of injured Irish defender Gerry Taggart, who had limped off six minutes before half-time, Henry ran riot.

He had already forced Flowers into a flying save seven minutes earlier when in the 66th minute he backed into Matt Elliott as they tussled on the edge of the area for Lee Dixon's lofted forward pass. Henry turned his man superbly before firing in.

It was the end of any anxiety Arsenal might have felt and it became a matter of just how many they would score.

Ljungberg, who replaced the labouring Kanu in the 74th minute, rifled in for 4-1 within a minute of coming on after a Stepanovs header came back off a post.

Then nine minutes from time, amid a waterfall of Arsenal attacks, Henry grabbed his hat-trick goal, skating clear from a Nelson Vivas ball with that familiar turn of pace which this time bewildered even a linesman who surely should have flagged for offside, and confidently tucked his shot past Flowers.

The hard-working Leicester keeper saved bravely when Henry set up Ljungberg for what seemed certain to be the Swede's second goal, and it was Henry's cross again which found Adams on the far side of the six-yard box to crash home a spectacular sixth in the last minute.

Adams deserved the plaudits he was given just as much as Henry deserved his own. How much more secure the Arsenal defence looks when he is around. And how they missed him in that dismal defensive show at Anfield.

Arsenal might still have to take veteran England keeper David Seaman out of mothballs quicker that manager Arsene Wenger had hoped _ an ankle injury is still apparently troubling him - before they can hope to repeat that miracle of 97-98.

Manninger looked a bag of nerves again whenever Leicester mounted an attack, which was not often, and was blatantly culpable for Akinbiyi's goal, fumbling Trevor Benjamin's header from a Steve Guppy free-kick.

But in this match there was a gulf of difference between two teams who started the day level on 35 points in second and third places.

Arsenal (1) 6 Leicester (0) 1

Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Stepanovs, Adams, Silvinho, Pires (Cole 85), Grimandi (Vivas 77), Parlour, Vieira, Henry, Kanu (Ljungberg 74).

Subs Not Used: Malz, Lukic.

Goals: Henry 35, Vieira 50, Henry 66, Ljungberg 75, Henry 82, Adams 90.

Leicester: Flowers, Rowett, Impey, Taggart (Guppy 39), Elliott, Jones, Robbie Savage, Oakes (Benjamin 51), Sinclair, Akinbiyi, Izzet.

Subs Not Used: Eadie, Royce, Gunnlaugsson.

Goals: Akinbiyi 54.

Att: 38,007

Ref: D Gallagher (Banbury).