Arsene Wenger refused to get carried away with Arsenal's 7-1 thrashing of 10-man Blackburn at Emirates Stadium, where captain Robin van Persie fired a hat-trick and England youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain grabbed a brace.

Wenger, though, wants to keep things in perspective and said: "I do not give much importance to the seven goals, it is just we won and played well.

"I felt that recently we had quite good performances but did not get the results. Today we got the performance and the result, which is ideally what you want."

The Gunners - who had not won in the league this year - raced ahead after just 79 seconds through Van Persie, but a fine free-kick from Morten Gamst Pedersen brought struggling Blackburn level.

Arsenal were soon back in front when Van Persie netted again from close range, before Oxlade-Chamberlain extended the lead five minutes before the break.

Gael Givet then saw red for a two-footed challenge on Van Persie, and there was no way back for Rovers.

Arsenal dominated the second half, as Mikel Arteta and the impressive Oxlade-Chamberlain were both on target with Van Persie collecting the matchball following a neat near-post finish just after the hour.

Substitute Thierry Henry capped a memorable afternoon when he swept home goal number seven in stoppage time to send Arsenal up into fifth place, two points behind Chelsea who host Manchester United on Sunday.

Wenger added: "We remained serious and were guided by the way we want to play football and not by any extravagant individualism.

"We were mature and serious, we played together until the end."