Two first-half goals from Robert Pires and Emmanuel Adebayor put the home side ahead before Alexander Hleb sealed the victory early after the break.

The victory placed Arsenal temporarily in fourth place with 50 points, one point ahead of city rivals Tottenham, who play Birmingham later on the same day.

Charlton were no match to a flow Arsenal side who dominated the game and squandered several chances that could have widened the gap through out the game.

Adebayor failed to benefit from an early blunder from Charlton defense when he bounced on a loose ball, advanced into the area but was caught in two minds as he wanted to flick home and square to captain Thierry Henry.

Henry raced down the left flank shortly after and crossed for the darting Pires who converted the ball into the far angle for the opener in the 13th minute.

Henry caused all kinds of troubles to the poor Charlton defense and dished out his second assist of the game in the 32nd minute.

The Frenchman released Adebayor who outmuscled his marker and guided a powerful shot home while battling to keep his balance.

Four minutes after re-start, Hleb darted down the midfield and fed Adebayor whose effort was blocked only for Hleb to steer the ball into the back of the net on the rebound.

Elsewhere, Luis Saha found the net twice to lead Manchester United to a 2-1 victor over West Bromwich Albion.

Saha scored in the 16th and 64th minutes for the visitors while Nathan Ellington notched the consolation goal for West Bromwich 12 minutes from time.

Manchester remained second in the standings on 63 points, 12 adrift of runaway leaders Chelsea while West Bromwich are 17th just three points away from the relegation zone.

In other matches, Everton crushed Aston Villa 4-1, Blackburn Rovers snatched a dramatic 3-2 victory over Middlesbrough, Bolton beat Sunderland 2-0, Manchester City lost 1-0 to Wigan and Portsmouth defeated West Ham 4-1.