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Chile forward Alexis Sanchez scored 25 goals for Arsenal last season

Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez rediscovered his goalscoring touch as his hat-trick ended Leicester's unbeaten start to the season.

Jamie Vardy had put the Foxes ahead with a superb finish from a tight angle after a clinical counter attack.

Theo Walcott equalised when Leicester were themselves caught on the break.

Sanchez then took control of the contest with his treble - the pick his third from long range - as Vardy and Olivier Giroud netted late on.

Sanchez back to his best - Arsene Wenger

Sanchez, who scored 25 goals last season for the Gunners, had failed to find the net in eight games across all competitions before this contest.

The result means Leicester are now without a win against Arsenal in 18 Premier League games, stretching back to November 1994.

Relive Arsenal's 5-2 win over Leicester

Follow all the reaction to this match and Saturday's other games

Sanchez finding his stride

Following a relatively subdued start to the season, Sanchez showed his quality at the King Power Stadium.

He scored his first goal of the term with a poacher's effort when he tapped in from close range after good work down the right by Hector Bellerin.

From the moment the ball hit the back of the net the former Barcelona forward's confidence came flooding back.

He appeared in dangerous areas, ran at defenders and it was inevitable he would add to his tally later in the game.

Sanchez claimed his second with a header, with his hat-trick the pick of his three goals as he struck a low, powerful shot past Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Alexis Sanchez's touch map, right, shows he made 10 touches inside the penalty area - only four less than Leicester counterparts Jamie Vardy, Shinji Okazaki, Andrej Kramaric and Leonardo Ulloa managed between them in total

Ranieri must plug leaky defence

Foxes tried their best - Ranieri

Leicester have ridden their luck somewhat in their impressive start to the season, and against one of last term's top four it ran out.

Even when they were winning games Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri was complaining about how his side must learn to keep clean sheets.

The erudite Italian recently turned to offering pizza as an incentive for his players to increase their number of shut outs.

His culinary offerings make quirky headlines but extra time on the training ground is what is required to improve Leicester's leaky defence.

Failure to do so and Leicester will find themselves sliding down the table if the goals dry up at the other end.

Arsenal finally showing their true colours

Arsenal made an underwhelming start to the campaign - collecting four points from their first three games - which saw them written off as possible challengers to Manchester City and Chelsea.

But the Gunners completed their victory over Leicester in plenty of style. Back was the attractive one-touch football as they cut through Leicester's back line - albeit one that has now leaked 14 goals.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Sanchez is now "back to his best", and his side have now moved up to fourth in the table, just three points behind new leaders Manchester United.

Man of the match - Alexis Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez had gone six Premier League matches without a goal before his hat-trick

Manager reaction

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri: "We must begin again now and repeat this start to the season. We fought and tried everything to score and the match was very open in the first half, but in the second half when Sanchez scored it was finished."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "It took Alexis a while to find his form. He didn't come back straight away from the Copa America and after a competition like that it takes some time. Alexis was waiting for a goal and he's not used to not scoring for so long so it was important for him to score."

The stats you need to know

Alexis Sanchez is the first player to score hat-tricks in the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga

Theo Walcott has netted 12 goals in his last 13 Premier League starts

Since making his Premier League debut in August 2012, Santi Cazorla has provided more assists than any other player (32).

Jamie Vardy has scored in four successive league games for the first time in his career.

Only once in their 19 league meetings have Arsenal failed to score against Leicester.

Arsenal netted five goals against Leicester, as many as they had scored in their previous six top-tier games in total.

What's next?

Arsenal host Greek side Olympiakos in the Champions League on Tuesday (19:45 BST) while Leicester travel to Norwich next Saturday (15:00).