Premier League round-up: Arsenalstriker Theo Walcott gave Arsene Wenger yet another reminder of his goal-scoring talents as he bagged a stunning hat-trick to sink Newcastle7-3  in a 10-goal thriller at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger had talked up Walcott as the next Thierry Henry on Friday, and the England forward, who has still to pen a new deal with the club,  did little to disprove that idea, scoring three excellent goals and setting up two more to give Arsenal the win that ensures they will end 2012 in fifth place, two points behind Chelsea and three adrift of Tottenham with a match in hand.

Arsenal’s record scorer Henry was in the stands watching his beloved former club and he was on his feet after 20 minutes thanks to Walcott’s opener,  a fine curled finish following an Henry-esque break from the halfway line.

Newcastle pulled level through Demba Ba, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored, only for Ba to grab his second to make it 2-2.

Arsenal looked set for a disappointing draw after Sylvain Marveaux equalised Lukasz Podolski’s header, but Walcott turned on the class to put the Gunners 4-3 up.

The former Southampton man set up Olivier Giroud twice and added his much-deserved third strike in injury time with a deft chip over Tim Krul.

Walcott has scored four goals and won one decisive penalty in the three games he has started up front and he now has 14 for the season.

Aaron Lennon kept

Tottenham’s

Champions League challenge alive as his side came from behind to beat

Sunderland

2-1 at Sunderland in a game that saw John O'Shea score his first goal for the Black Caps before having to leave the field with a hamstring injury.

Spurs trailed at the break to O’Shea’s first goal for the Black Cats despite having enjoyed the better of a first half during which strike Emmanuel Adebayor hit the bar from just two yards.

However, Carlos Cuellar’s own goal three minutes after the restart gave the visitors a foothold, and they took full advantage with 51 minutes gone when Lennon sped through to beat goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

Had it not been for the Belgian’s excellence, Jermain Defoe would have wrapped up the points on the hour with a shot from point-blank range which looked odds-on to end up in the back of the net, and he also kept out Adebayor’s late effort.

Martin O’Neill’s side battled manfully for a way back into the game, but Spurs held out with little difficulty to claim a second successive Premier League win on the road that puts them up to third in the table.

Aston Villa’s

miserable recent run continued as they suffered another thumping defeat as they went down 3-0 at home to

Wigan

.

Ivan Ramis headed in the opener in the third minute, with Emmerson Boyce and Arouna Kone completing the scoring.

Villa would have fallen into the bottom three were it not for a superb comeback from 10-man

Stoke

.

Southampton

had led 3-1 at the Britannia Stadium thanks to strikes from Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez and an Andy Wilkinson own goal.

Kenwyne Jones had got Stoke’s goal and Matthew Upson made it 3-2 after 67 minutes, only for the Potters to have Steven Nzonzi dismissed for a tackle on Jack Cork.

But Cameron Jerome popped up in stoppage time to make it 3-3 and earn the hosts a point from a breathless encounter.

Swansea’s

impressive campaign continued with a 2-1 win at

Fulham

. Danny Graham put the Swans ahead and Jonathan de Guzman doubled their advantage, meaning Bryan Ruiz’s goal was not enough for Fulham.

Reading

gave their survival hopes a boost as they beat

West Ham

1-0 after Pavel Pogrebnyak capitalised on a James Collins error.