LONDON, March 2: Champions Arsenal went eight points clear at the top of the English premier league on Sunday after a comfortable 2-0 win over Charlton Athletic at Highbury.

Francis Jeffers tapped home in the 26th minute after a fine run and pass by Thierry Henry, who also led the breakaway for Robert Pires to head Arsenal’s second in first-half stoppage time.

The win hoisted Arsene Wenger’s side to 63 points, ahead of Manchester United, who were playing later in the League Cup final against Liverpool, and Newcastle United, who both have 55.

Arsenal’s Sweden midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg played his first game since December, but they were missing French skipper Patrick Vieira and Cameroon defender Lauren through suspension and England defender Ashley Cole after a hernia operation.

The re-shuffled team took time to settle against a hard-tackling Charlton side who had set a club record of five consecutive league wins before Sunday.

But the breakthrough came when Henry accelerated down the left and dinked the ball across for Jeffers to side-foot home from two metres.

Charlton nearly equalised within seconds, when Kevin Lisbie’s shot forced a sharp save from David Seaman, but the game was put beyond their reach just before the break.

Henry broke down the left flank and Charlton defender Chris Powell could only knock the Frenchman’s cut-back towards his own goal. Ljungberg’s angled effort hit the post but Pires arrived to nod the ball from point-blank range.

Jeffers missed a sitter late in the second half, getting robbed of possession as he prepared to roll the ball into an empty net, but his team had already done enough to avenge a 4-2 defeat in this fixture last season.—Reuters