Alexis Sanchez hat-trick gives Arsenal victory at Leicester City

An Alexis Sanchez hat-trick has helped Arsenal to a 5-2 away victory over Leicester City this afternoon.

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Both sides started the game positively, as Richie de Laet cleared a drilled Santi Cazorla shot off the line, before Leicester's Jamie Vardy hit the post with a left-footed strike.

The striker found the net moments later, as he picked up Danny Drinkwater's pass on the left wing before cutting inside to curl a shot past Petr Cech.

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Vardy almost doubled City's lead moments later, hitting the post again with a header from a Marc Albrighton cross.

The visitors made Vardy pay for his profligacy as Walcott fired past Kasper Schmeichel after a quick counter-attack on 18 minutes.

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Arsenal took the lead on 33 minutes through Sanchez, who latched on to Hector Bellerin's cross to score his first goal of the season.

Riyad Mahrez came close to finding an equaliser before half time after dribbling at the Arsenal defence, but his effort went wide of Cech's goal.

After the break the visitors began to dominate the match, as Sanchez curled a shot over the bar, before the Chilean found the net on 57 minutes with a header from a Mesut Ozil cross.

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Arsenal came close to a fourth goal moments later, as Ozil fired over the bar, before Walcott forced a good save from Schmeichel.

Aaron Ramsey tried his luck with a placed effort on goal, but the Danish keeper produced another good save to keep the Welshman's effort out, before the midfielder fired wide on 73 minutes.

Sanchez completed his hat-trick on 80 minutes, as the Chile international cut inside from the left wing before firing a shot into the bottom corner of the Leicester goal.

Leicester continued to play until the final whistle, as Mahrez forced a save from Cech, before Vardy scored his second of the afternoon with a low shot.

Arsenal wrapped the victory up in added time through Olivier Giroud, who scored Arsenal's fifth after picking up a Nacho Monreal cross before firing past Schmeichel.