Arsenal fans peering down from the top of the Premier League could be forgiven for asking who needs Thierry Henry.
His 16 million pound move to Barcelona put money in the club coffers and their firepower on the pitch seems undimmed, judging by the 5-0 demolition of Derby on Saturday.
Fifteen goals in the first six league games hardly suggest Henry is being missed and the 3-0 win over Sevilla last week validated Champions League ambitions. Henry himself has been impressed, while Jason Pereira at Soccerlens wonders whether they might be the world’s best team to watch.
Talents such as Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas continue to blossom and revenues at the new 60,000 seater Emirates Stadium now yield an astonishing 3.5 million pounds per-match — double the amount generated at Highbury.
The power-wrangling will continue behind the scenes but there is little sign of that affecting what happens on field, as Arsenal continue to turn their attractive, free-flow style into goals — something that was not a given in Henry’s time at the club.
The only nagging doubt for supporters will be whether it can all last. Fabregas says Henry’s departure helped young players like himself blossom, but when it comes down to the end of the season could they be short of the sort of experience that gets you over the line. What do you think, Arsenal fans?
Dave Thompson, London
Photo: Fabregas celebrates after scoring against Sevilla in the Champions League. Dylan Martinez / Reuters
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8 comments so far
Cesc is the man. He has unlimtied potential and if it needed Henry to leave for some of that to be reaslised then it was a good decision. If Arsenal and Liverpool are top at the end of the season, in either order, I’ll be happy enough.
- Posted by RafaAnd when did this thing about copying a word come in? I’m with Jim, bring back the maths or give us a quiz question!!!
- Posted by RafaNews just in that Arsenal is the 2nd richest club in the world after Real Madrid and Wenger’s gonna get a 70m pound transfer kitty.
Arsenal can only get better. Step aside Man-U and Chelski, Welcome to the new era of Arsenal and hopefully Liverpool dominance of the EPL.
- Posted by Five TimesExcept for a addition of a couple of people like Eduardo and Sagna, Arsenal have had the same talent last season and they played the same beautiful passing football but failed to convert that into goals. Probably they sat back thinking that the talismanic Henry was up front.
Now that he is gone the boys seem to have realised that if they have to succeed it is on to them to play well and finish well.
And that is exactly what they are doing.
Will it last? Well they are a young team, but Wenger has groomed them well. It is surely going to be a long hard season, but I am sure they are strong and mature enough to last till the end.
Difficult to say right now whether they will be able to finish at the top, but a top 4 finish is certain.
- Posted by NachiketWenger took a big gamble when he let Henry go and it’s credit to him that it’s paying off. They look a much better team than last year and they’ll be popular champions.
- Posted by Jonny TwinkleThey would be popular champions, i meant to say. they won’t actually win it - united will.
- Posted by Jonny TwinkleI’m not an arsenal fan but I must admit they are the surprise package after being very quiet on the transfer market. Of course the sustainability depends on no injuries to key players.
- Posted by Gituma[…] HartTom SpavenTony JimenezTrevor HugginsWilliam SchombergZoran Milosavljevic « Arsenal enjoying life after Henry — but will it last? Should Barcelona sell Ronaldinho? […]
- Posted by Rumbles of discontent in the Premier League - Reuters Soccer Blog