LONDON (Reuters) - Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored his first hat-trick in English football on Saturday and proved he is ready to replace former captain Thierry Henry as the attacking talisman of a vibrant Arsenal team.

Arsenal consolidated their position on top of the Premier League with a 5-0 victory over struggling Derby County, leaving most observers satisfied that the team no longer misses Henry, who left the club to join Barcelona.

"Yes, he has great potential," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters. "But we have him and Robin Van Persie scoring goals and we have others who are also very capable of scoring.

"Now it is down to us to prove we can go on and go as far as we want to. We kept our focus after the Champions League (win in midweek over Sevilla) and it was nice to see the players enjoy the game so much."

Arsenal's win took them three points clear of second-placed Manchester City, who drew 3-3 at Fulham in the evening fixture.

French defender Abou Diaby opened the scoring for Arsenal with a powerful diagonal right-foot shot from 25 yards after only 10 minutes and from then on it was one-way traffic.

Adebayor ran on to a pass from Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas to score his first goal 15 minutes later and added his second from the spot after Eduardo was fouled by Matt Oakley.

Fabregas scored Arsenal's fourth with a swerving long-range shot before Adebayor competed his treble 10 minutes from time.

Manchester City, under the guidance of former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, fell behind at Craven Cottage to a 13th minute header from Welsh midfielder Simon Davies, but powered back with two goals from Bulgarian midfielder Martin Petrov and one from French striker Emile Mpenza.

Algerian midfielder Hameur Bouazza had fired Fulham 2-1 ahead, but they needed a goal from substitute Danny Murphy after 75 minutes to salvage a point.