He set Arsenal on the way in the ninth minute and Kolo Toure headed in a second before half-time.

The Gunners flew out of the blocks in the second half as Thierry Henry scored his sixth Premiership goal of the season.

Harry Kewell pulled one back for Leeds before Kanu finished what he had started with Arsenal’s fourth.

Kanu told Sky Sports: “I am very happy. It’s not easy to get into this team, we have a good team and if you’re not playing you have to work hard and believe you’re going to play and do your best for the team.

“We’re in good form, everybody is in shape. We keep on working for each other and we have different roles to play.”

Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira emphasised the importance of a talented squad and added: “We have 22 or 23 players who when they come in they do their best and today it was who Kanu scored two goals.

Asked if the run of games recently had left the Gunners tired, Vieira said: “We really enjoy it and don’

t really think about tiredness – we just went on pitch to enjoy ourselves.

“With a manager like [Arsene Wenger] we believe in the team, we believe in ourselves we just go to do our best and today we got the three points.

Leeds midfielder Eirik Bakke added: “I am disappointed. The two first-half goals killed the game. It was very hard, they are a good team but I hope it will turn around for us.