Arsenalist

It probably happened three months too late and nobody can say they were surprised when Arsenal pulled the plug on striker Thierry Henry for the rest of the Premiership campaign. With no FA Cup to participate in and freshly booted out of the Champions League, Arsenal’s only interest lies in the Premiership where they’re one point back of Liverpool in fourth place and five ahead of Bolton with two games in hand on both teams. Although by no comfortable margin, at least a fourth place finish is secured guaranteeing play in next year’s Champions League. The club has shown that they can play and win without Henry and Wenger must feel comfortable with his chances of finishing out the rest of the campaign without their captain.

I wonder if Henry would have been sidelined if Arsenal had progressed to the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League. Would Arsene Wenger have risked Henry in hopes of European success? That’s something we’ll never know but what is evident is that Thierry Henry has been playing a lot of football of late and most of it has been in a certain degree of pain:

“Last season was a very long one for me, right up to the Champions League final and then the World Cup final with France. I only had a few weeks’ break and then the Premiership started…First of all, there was the sciatic nerve problem, which kept me out for a while. Then, most recently of all, the foot injury. Now these injuries against PSV.”

It’s better to fully recover and come back strong rather than play with a lingering injury hoping it goes away. The latter is what Henry was going all season and we can only hope that it didn’t have any long-term effects. It’s also been confirmed that making Henry eligible at all for the PSV tie was a gross mistake and that he had no business playing at all. I wonder how that one appearance will delay his full recovery.

With Robin van Persie already out and Emmanuel Adebayor facing further suspension, Henry’s injury leaves Arsenal without their top three strikers. This means that Baptista and Aliadiere will get even more chances to prove to Wenger that they deserve to be on the first team. The indecisive Julio Baptista who has struggled in his spell with the Gunners will likely be returned to Real Madrid as it’s hard to see Wenger finding use for his services. Jeremie Aliadiere is a strange beast, although his play has been consistent in the domestic cups, he’s been both unimpressive and unproductive in the Premiership leaving us all guessing as to what his future is.

Having no European or domestic cups to contend for might be a blessing in disguise since it allows Arsenal’s many injuries to heal over time and nobody will be rushed back for a crucial game. I’m obviously assuming that we will have enough in us to finish in the top four, a task that seems quite doable and to which Wenger is entirely focused on.