Arsenal moved into second place in the Premiership as Thierry Henry moved closer to Ian Wright’s goal-scoring record on a wonderful afternoon at Highbury.
The Frenchman grabbed a hat-trick and Freddie Ljungberg got the other as Arsène Wenger’s side cruised to a 4-1 victory over Norwich. With Manchester United only drawing with Blackburn at Old Trafford, the victory pulled Arsenal level on points with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. They have leapt ahead due to a superior goal difference.
Of course, Henry is always the major factor in Arsenal’s goal-scoring. He had struck his sixth hat-trick in their last Premiership home game, against Portsmouth on March 5, his seventh came courtesy of goals in the 19th, 22nd and 66th minutes. Darren Huckerby’s stunning strike on the half-hour had given the visitors a modicum of hope but, after Ljungberg restored Arsenal’s two-goal advantage five minutes after half time, this was no contest.
Henry’s third put him on 181 career goals for the club just four adrift of Wright’s tally. At this rate, he’ll break the record by the end of this season. And if he keeps on scoring there still could be a silver lining to this season.
Highbury was bathed in Spring sunshine this afternoon. It had been similarly pleasant when Gilberto had last played for the first-team. That was back on September 18 in a 2-2 draw with Bolton. Since then the 28-year-old had been sidelined with a fractured vertebrae, an injury that his manager admitted had threatened his career.
Henry (calf), Freddie Ljungberg (ankle) and Robert Pires (flu) also returned to the starting line-up after injury. However Patrick Vieira (hip) and Philippe Senderos (thigh) had picked up knocks while on international duty.
Arsenal took the initiative in the opening minutes and barely handed it back during a dominant first half.
The home side were clearly on top and the Norwich defence were giving them far too much space. In the 10th minute Henry produced his first ‘sighter’; a long-range shot that was too hot for Robert Green to handle.
In the 15th minute, Henry and Pires combined to send Reyes clear but the Spaniard’s shot was snaffled around the post.
The keeper was already starting to become overworked and his respite lasted four minutes. Mathieu Flamini flicked the ball forward, Pires created some space and then tapped it to Henry, who darted to his right before thumping a low shot into the corner of the net.
Three minutes later it was 2-0. Henry collected the ball near the byline on the left surrounded by Norwich defenders. As they backed off, he cut inside before spearing a shot across Green and into the far corner. Ljungberg nearly capitalised on a sleeping Norwich defence soon afterwards but Green smothered the chance.
Then, on the half hour, a strange thing happened, Arsenal conceded a goal. It was the first they had let in for six minutes under nine hours.
Jens Lehmann palmed a corner out to Graham Stuart but the Scotsman’s shot was woefully wide. Huckerby kept it in and cut inside then produced a fierce cross-shot that flew through a crowded area and into the top corner.
Soon afterwards, Flamini was forced off with a thigh injury and Fabregas came on as a direct replacement. Late in the proceedings, Henry fired over a free-kick, Ljungberg flashed a shot across the face of goal and Fabregas had a shot blocked.
It was all Arsenal and nothing was to change after half time.
Four minutes after the restart, Reyes fed Ljungberg and the Swede’s clip over the keep was hacked off the line by Damian Francis. Seconds later, he scored. Lauren sent a looping cross over from the byline and, just inches from goal, Ljungberg leapt high to head in.
Arsenal had killed the game without ever getting out of third gear. They soon started to cruise. Henry burst to the byline and set up Fabregas then rifled a rasping drive just over the bar.
In the 66th minute, Henry got his treble. Reyes, who toiled manfully all afternoon, provided the chance and the tumbling Frenchman prodded into the corner from close range. Seconds later, Ljungberg cracked a drive into the sidenetting.
They had various chances to improve their tally before the end but the points were always safe.
