Henry and Fabregas Inspire Arsenal

Top teams often dread returning to Premiership action after a demanding Champions League fixture and in view of the gulf between their European performances and their league form, it seemed Arsenal would have more to fear than most – particularly in facing a club currently occupying the runners-up spot.

As it turned out, the Gunners confounded the sceptics with a display of fast, fluent, inventive attacking football which created enough chances to have won the match by half time and made a good, well organised Liverpool side look pedestrian by comparison.

The highlight of the game was a masterclass conducted by the peerless Thierry Henry, surely the most complete striker in the world today. As early as the 7th minute, he broke down the right and pulled the ball back invitingly, only for Adebayor to spoon it over the bar. Thirteen minutes later, he ran on to an exquisitely timed through ball from the brilliant Fabregas and with balletic precision steadied himself and sent his shot past the despairing Reina, who knew what he would do but was powerless to prevent it.

Those two incidents set the tone for a performance in which he tormented Liverpool, creating chances for others and coming close himself on numerous occasions before he seized on a suicidal Gerrard back pass in the 82nd minute to score the poacher’s goal which deservedly won the game for Arsenal.

It capped a fine team performance in which the only weaknesses were the failure to convert enough chances and the woeful distribution of Senderos, without whom Liverpool would have had even less possession.