A handful of you may have read my own tribute to Thierry Henry a matter of days ago. Those of you who did will notice that I missed out quite a few of Thierry’s best moments in an Arsenal shirt: the goal against Tottenham; the one in the Bernabeu and much, much more. This feeling of “compositional leftovers” has filled me with so much regret that I could not resist picking my ten favourite Henry goals for Arsenal. I’ve decided not to order them, as that would be too difficult, so I shall try to order them chronologically.
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 0: Highbury—October 1st, 2000
In his first season at Arsenal, Henry struggled to make the move from the wing to the centre-forward role; at the beginning, anyway. Towards the end of that season, Henry turned into the machine we all love and remember today, and defences were very frightened of him.
At the beginning of his second season, Arsenal’s biggest rivals at the time, Manchester United, came to Highbury. Henry shocked all those watching around the world (not least Fabien Barthez), when he, with his back to goal, flicked Gilles Grimandi’s pass over his shoulder and volleyed the ball spectacularly into the net from twenty yards.
Naturally, the standard of this goal is what makes me love it so—the technique, talent and sheer audacity needed to pull this off is second to none—but also the fact that it was the winner against Manchester United, at a time when he didn’t quite have the reputation he does now, and the almost speechless reaction of the commentary team, as you can hear in the video, makes it all the more special.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtHHJUNR9No
Arsenal 3 Tottenham 0: Highbury—November 16th, 2002
Of all the men to have played for Arsenal certainly in the last ten years, next to none have appreciated the rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham quite so much as Thierry Henry. His finest moment against Arsenal’s neighbours came in 2002 when Arsenal tore Spurs to pieces. The end result was 3-0, but the goal which will be remembered forever was Thierry’s.
Patrick Vieira headed away a Tottenham throw-in, and Henry received the ball just outside of his own area, then ran up the pitch and danced through the remaining Spurs defenders, before blasting the ball into the bottom corner of the net with his left foot.
The cherry on the top of that goal was Henry’s celebration. He himself can’t explain why, but he sprinted towards the Tottenham fans and slid in front of them. Thierry has a framed photo of that moment, which is the main photo in this article, and if you look at the Tottenham fans, you can see a wonderful mix of anger, misery and sheer bewilderment on their faces.
This moment was cast in bronze; Thierry Henry’s statue at The Emirates Stadium depicts his famous celebration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhEpeDFMM1o
Inter Milan 1 Arsenal 5: San Siro—November 25th, 2003
Arsenal’s Champions League campaign in the Invincibles season was a disappointing one mainly because the Gunners did not win the competition for the first time, but in the Group Stage things were not going well for Wenger’s men at all. Arsenal went into this game away to an Inter Milan side featuring the likes of Francesco Toldo, Javier Zanetti, Fabio Cannavaro, Dejan Stankovic, Adriano and Christian Vieri needing a win to qualify.
Arsenal completed their task, and then some. Inter Milan were simply torn apart, and Thierry Henry put in one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt; featuring this wonderful goal.
Sometimes actions speak louder than words, particularly in football, as most actions are followed by a loud roar from thousands of people, so I’ll leave you to watch and enjoy the video. The only thing worth mentioning is that that defender Thierry’s making a mockery of is none other than Javier Zanetti; one of the best right-backs in the history of this wonderful sport.
Arsenal 2 Manchester City 1: Highbury—February 1st, 2004
This is one of Henry’s more underrated goals for Arsenal; I’m sure a number of you reading this will be surprised not to see his wondergoal against West Ham amongst others here instead.
In an incredibly tempestuous affair between Arsenal and Manchester City featuring a fair few tussles between players—Nicholas Anelka was sent off after his late goal—Thierry Henry settled the tie with this wondergoal with seven minutes to go. Again, the celebration makes the goal even more special: the anger on his face is a joy to behold. However, there is no question that the celebration takes a back seat to the goal; the curl Thierry gets on the ball is mesmerising.
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 1: Highbury—March 28, 2004
Thierry Henry’s record against Manchester United was quite something, and this goal, apart from the earlier volley in 2000, is the pick of the lot.
When Jose Antonio Reyes gave Thierry the ball, all that was needed was a touch to set himself, and he lashed the ball into the top corner of the goal past a hapless Roy Carroll. The amount of curl and power in the shot is astonishing, and the ease with which he does it shows just how unplayable Henry was at that time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYygkqN9Kso
Arsenal 4 Liverpool 2: Highbury—April 9, 2004
Need I say more? You know the goal. To cut a long story short, Henry almost single-handedly won the game for Arsenal and for this goal humiliated the entire Liverpool defence.
Arsenal 4 Charlton Athletic 0: Highbury—October 2, 2004
Comfortably Thierry’s most outrageous goal for Arsenal, this backheel sums up Henry at his impudent best. His touch to control Reyes’s powerful cross is impressive in itself, particularly with Jonathan Fortune climbing on top of him, and how he got the ball into the goal whilst wrestling the defender will always baffle me.
Arsenal may not have won the Premier League that year, and saw their unbeaten run ended by Manchester United in the process, but the Gunners played some truly beautiful football along the way, most notably the 7-0 destruction of Everton, the team who finished fourth that year, in the penultimate game of the season. This goal is my favourite of the lot.
Real Madrid 0 Arsenal 1: Santiago Bernabeu—February 21, 2006
When Arsenal went into the first leg of their Last 16 tie against Real Madrid, an English side was yet to win at the Santiago Bernabeu. Thierry Henry changed that.
Picking up a pass from Cesc Fabregas on the halfway line, Henry battered his way through the Madrid defence with incredible pace, before slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the goal with his left foot.
This is arguably Henry’s most famous Arsenal goal, and was the catalyst for Arsenal’s run to the Champions League Final that year. Arsenal’s two performances against Real Madrid were both heroic as the Gunners scraped a 1-0 win on aggregate, and Henry’s solo goal showed his true greatness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ViR0DPkX6U
Arsenal 2 Manchester United 1: Emirates Stadium—January 21, 2007
Yet another Thierry Henry goal against Manchester United, but at The Emirates Stadium instead of Highbury. Arsenal’s first season at the Emirates was a difficult one: a very inconsistent Arsenal side produced some appalling performances; Henry spent most of his final season injured; Arsenal lost in the Carling Cup Final to Chelsea. However, Arsenal’s double over Manchester United at the Emirates was something of a redeemer that year, and Henry’s late winner in this game will live long in the memory.
Thierry scored just four headers for Arsenal, and this one is by the far the most important. With the scored locked at 1-1 in the 93rd minute, Emmanuel Eboue exchanged passes with Tomas Rosicky and crossed the ball into the area. Thierry Henry rose up above everyone and calmly headed the ball into the top corner, before running away as if he’d scored a goal with no significance whatsoever.
This was the last goal Thierry Henry scored at home for Arsenal in his first stint before moving to Barcelona, and was quite a way to bow out.
Arsenal 1 Leeds United 0: Emirates Stadium—January 9, 2012
Arsenal’s 2011-12 season was one of their worst under Arsene Wenger, but will always be remembered for the return of the King: Thierry Henry came home for January and early February and seven appearances.
The first one was the most memorable by quite some way. Henry came on with Arsenal unable to break down Leeds United in the Third Round of the FA Cup, and sent the Emirates Stadium into orbit in the 78th minute. Henry picked up Alex Song’s through ball, controlled it, and slotted home into the bottom corner in very familiar style, before skipping away in ecstasy and running off to hug Wenger, whilst the Emirates crowd dissolved into chaos.
Few goals will ever have such an effect on Arsenal fans ever again.
These are my ten favourite goals for Arsenal. I will forever agonise over which I think to be the best, and already regret not putting in the goal away to West Ham in the 2002-03 and his glorious 185th goal in Prague to equal Ian Wright’s Arsenal record, but this is quite a formidable list to say the least.
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