Blackburn Roversdid something extremely foolish. Sam Allardyce, who wrote the instruction manual on how to frustrate Arsenal for goodness sake, must have been steaming as he watched his team surrender, and duly get cuffed by Arsène Wenger's revitalised team.

A flurry of goals – and there should have been many more – pushed Arsenal back into the top four for the first time since the Christmas decorations were up. The pressure now switches to Aston Villa, while Arsenal relish the feelgood factor. That was epitomised not only by Andrei Arshavin scoring a pearl of a first goal in English football, but also by the fact Emmanuel Eboué possessed the swagger to insist he should be the man to score from the penalty spot. Arsenal's inhibitions are evaporating fast.

For that Wenger felt their Champions League triumph in Rome was a turning point. "It lifted the spirits," he said. "We are playing with freedom again. We cannot drop off now even one or two per cent in any game, but I feel in the dressing room the team is really up for it."

What a difference an early strike makes. Inside three minutes they cured their nil-nilitis with a home league goal to break a 276-minute barren spell. Nicklas Bendtner carved the opening, twirling into space and threading a pass for Theo Walcott to cross for Arshavin. The little Russian's shot, which was heading wide until it ricocheted off André Ooijer, ensured he celebrated with a blush.

Not so Arsenal's second, though, which showcased the diamonds in Arshavin's boots. He gathered Denilson's excellent pass, sidestepped Danny Simpson as if he was a training ground cone, and lifted his shot over Paul Robinson from a wafer-thin angle. It was impressive as he had to have four stitches in his foot at half-time and needed to change into bigger boots. Although Blackburn demonstrated some niggly habits – with El Hadji Diouf the chief culprit for a reckless kick at Manuel Almunia's ankle – Morten Gamst Pedersen mustered a couple of counter punches that might have hurt their hosts before half-time. But Allardyce wrote this one off as "a very bad day" and bemoaned the injury list, which increased as Gaël Givet and Stephen Warnock limped off.

Arsenal created plenty. Samir Nasri belted a free-kick against the crossbar and was a general nuisance. The strategy of having three nimble ball players switching positions around target-man Bendtner was promising.

The 21-year-old was a real handful but miscued when he could have scored a hat-trick. But he only need look at Eboué, described by the PA announcer as "the Arsenal goal machine", for inspiration. The Ivorian has turned around his reputation, and scored twice – one a tap in and then a cracking penalty – to make it three from the last two home games.

It took Arsenal eight Premier League matches before this one to score four goals. Wenger is convinced their drought is now over. Arsenal at last look like they mean business.