Football: Thierry the derby destroyer

THIERRY HENRY evoked memories of Diego Maradona with a stunning strike that brought Highbury to its feet and Tottenham to their knees.

The Frenchman went on a mazy first-half run and left three defenders in his wake before hammering a wonderful shot past Kasey Keller in the Spurs goal.

It set Arsenal on their way to an easy victory and placed them back on top of the table.

Their job was made considerably easier when Tottenham's Simon Davies was shown a red card in the first half, allowing the home side to dominate completely.

The Gunners finally put Tottenham out of their misery with second- half strikes from Freddy Ljungberg and Sylvain Wiltord - but Henry's goal will live long in the memory, and it came just in time for the French hitman, according to boss Arsene Wenger.

Wenger said: "He needed that goal because although his performances have been good in recent games, he has been disappointed not to score more goals.

"You can tell a striker it doesn't matter that he is not scoring because he is playing well, but they need goals for confidence."

Arsenal certainly oozed confidence yesterday, and their second- half double showed it.

"The second and third goals were great examples of team play and good passing," Wenger said.

He added, surely with tongue in cheek: "I was disappointed when their player was sent off because sometimes beating 10 men can be harder than beating 11."

Not surprisingly, Glenn Hoddle saw the impact of that red card rather differently.

"I am very disappointed with the sending-off of Simon Davies and I want to have a word with the referee about it," said the former England boss.

"I think the first yellow card was unjustified and I am hoping he will change his mind.

"Simon is a young lad and he is in the dressing-room scratching his head because he cannot understand what he has done wrong.

"We were already a goal down at that stage and being down to 10 men is not what you want when you are playing here."

Hoddle's right - Highbury is a tough place to visit. But the extraordinary claims made earlier in the season that this Arsenal side was the best English football had ever seen had been put to bed over the past month.

Five defeats in six games had brought a much-needed sense of reality back to the club.

But then Arsenal looked to be back to something approaching their best last week with a richly deserved 1-0 victory over Newcastle.

And yesterday they played Ferrari football to leave their old rivals looking like clapped-out Morris Minors.

It is surely no coincidence that the return of Patrick Vieira after his two-game suspension coincides with this surge in form.

Yesterday Sol Campbell returned to the starting line-up after a back injury to face the predictable fury of the Spurs supporters, clearly still hurt by his defection 18 months ago.

Tottenham have not won at Highbury since 1993, when George Graham was still the Gunners manager.

And Hoddle's men came into this game on the back of two consecutive league defeats, which had sent them hurtling from the top four down to mid-table.

Spurs are in a slump - and from an Arsenal perspective, the recent individual form of Henry had been equally troubling.

The Gunners' star had scored just one goal in nine outings and had looked increasingly frustrated with each miss.

But yesterday we were treated to a display of vintage Henry as he tormented the Tottenham defence from the first whistle to his substitution late on.

Arsenal came out of the traps like lightning, with Gilberto bringing a save out of Keller within 90 seconds of the kick-off.

They had the ball in the Tottenham net a minute later when Sylvain Wiltord rifled home Freddy Ljungberg's pass from just inside the area, but the referee blew for offside.

Ledley King was forced into a desperate goal-line clearance after six minutes when Henry followed up on Ljungberg's saved shot.

But the Arsenal striker broke the deadlock seven minutes later with one of the best goals Highbury will witness all season.

Picking the ball up 15 metres inside his own half, Henry surged into Spurs' territory.

He shook off the attention of Matthew Etherington before advancing on the Tottenham penalty area, cutting inside both Steve Carr and King before firing the ball into the bottom corner.

It was a goal to light up any occasion and it gave a sense of foreboding that this could be a desperately uncomfortable afternoon for Tottenham.

Jamie Redknapp and Sol Campbell almost came to blows in the 16th minute when the Tottenham midfielder smacked into the former White Hart Lane favourite with a two-footed lunge.

The referee told both players to calm down and bizarrely awarded a free-kick to Spurs.

Robbie Keane looked increasingly isolated up front as the muscular Arsenal defence found it easy to bundle him off the ball and on the one occasion when he did get a chance, he made a complete mess of the execution.

Davies lost Ashley Cole on the Arsenal left in the 21st minute and centred perfectly for the Irishman, who miscued his header completely to let the home side off the hook.

Sadly for Welsh international Davies, it was to be his last constructive contribution of the afternoon.

He was booked in the 23rd minute for a foul on Cole and when he lunged into Vieira soon after, the referee had little option but to send him off.

Arsenal thought they had scored again after 32 minutes when Henry finished off a lovely move involving Pires and Wiltord, but the linesman's flag ruled out the chance.

Tottenham were struggling to get a foot on the ball at this stage, with their best chance of the half being a speculative 50-yard lob that Rami Shaaban did well to stop underneath his crossbar.

The second half confirmed the fears that must have haunted Spurs fans throughout the first period - with Arsenal turning their domination into goals. Within 10 minutes Wenger's men had doubled their lead with another beautifully worked move.

Redknapp was harried off the ball by Freddy Ljungberg, whose pass found Wiltord. The Frenchman advanced into the Tottenham area and drew two defenders before squaring for the Swede to roll the ball into the net.

With 19 minutes remaining Pires fed Henry on the edge of the area. His shot was parried out by Keller but only as far as Pires, whose first-time pass was hammered home by Wiltord.

From then until the final whistle, Arsenal's fans cheered their side's every pass as the champions toyed with their hapless opponents to the point of complete humiliation.ARSENAL SPURS9 Shots on target 4

6 Shots off target 2

5 Shots blocked 1

3 Corners 1

16 Fouls conceded 10

4 Offsides 3

0 Yellow cards 1

0 Red cards 1REPRODUCED FROM THE OPTA INDEX

Copyright 2002 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.