Henry Praise for Ade And Van

Thierry Henry has praised the men who filled in for him while he was out injured.

It had been feared that Arsenal would fall apart without Thierry Henry when it was announced that he would miss the whole of December, that was not so.

in the 8 games that Henry missed Arsenal won 4, drawn 3 and lost just one. That may not be fantastic but consider that in that time we have missed several other stars and have played Chelsea and Porto away.

Now that Henry is back either Adebayor or van Persie are going to have to give up their place in attack.

Henry said: ‘I am really pleased for Manu Adebayor,’ said Henry. ‘He was criticised for a lack of goals or a lack of commitment or whatever when he arrived [last January] but it always takes time to settle in and what he is doing at the moment is amazing.

‘Robin too. He is playing as a centre forward and is showing he can score goals. If his head is right he can be in the years to come one of the best ever in the Premiership. He is going that way and it would be good for him to finish as our top scorer.

‘That’s why when the penalty was given against Charlton I thought it would be nice for him to score in the game and I gave him the ball.

‘I don’t mind him scoring more than me, goals don’t matter so much for me. If they did I wouldn’t have given him the ball for the penalty.

‘I have always said I’m not a ‘natural-born killer’ in front of goal. If I have to give a ball I will try to do that. I used to get hammered about that in my first two or three years because people said I wasn’t a ‘killer’ but if you look at my stats they are good.’

Henry also rubbished claims that Van Persie is the new Bergkamp but praised the young Dutchman for the class he has shown in recent weeks: ‘I don’t think you should compare them,’ he said. ‘Bergkamp was Bergkamp and Van Persie will be Van Persie. Robin is already getting to that level, he is doing it already in the Dutch national team and for Arsenal.

‘I think it’s up to him how far he is going to go. I never compare players like that, Dennis was special and we want Robin to be himself and make his name.’