Another night of frayed nerves and late drama at Highbury left Arsenal with their Champions League hopes intact and their qualification, probably like Sven-Goran Eriksson's England, resting on a date in Germany.

Whereas the Gunners have previously been guilty of throwing away points on European nights to late equalisers, this time it was Thierry Henry who struck decisively with eight minutes left to clinch victory.

With group rivals Lyon defeating Bayern Munich, Arsenal had - up to that point - been standing on the brink of potential elimination next week when they travelled to Germany with their chances out of their own hands.

However, Henry's strike, which was quite in contrast to Arsenal's struggles in front of goal before then, provided the instant tonic that they needed and allowed them to regain the qualifying initiative.

While a measure of Euroscepticism continues at a club who have yet to convincingly find their Champions League feet, Arsene Wenger may yet become convinced that they can win the competition.

Not that Arsenal were at all convincing in their victory against a Spartak side who saw little of the ball but still managed to frustrate their hosts.

However, if Lyon fail to win in Moscow next week, then the Gunners are through. A victory of their own would also be enough to top the group.

Their performance, on a night when Dennis Bergkamp showed renewed frustration at being substituted, will have to improve markedly though as the Germans' own qualification is no longer assured.

At least they won though. For back in November, they had crashed to a comprehensive defeat in Moscow, losing 4-1.

Much has changed since then. Arsenal may be enduring a frustrating Premiership campaign but Spartak have not played a domestic match at all due to their winter shutdown.

They had also lost their intervening three group games, scoring no goals and with their two Brazilian strikers being lambasted by their coach.

They were still rusty at Highbury, but Arsenal nevertheless made hard work of the first-half.

The influence of Tony Adams was, as ever, certainly immense, with the Arsenal captain not only holding the defence together but also organising the rest of the side and urging them forwards with regular bellows.

Adams' presence only serves to emphasise how much Arsenal miss him when injuries take their regular grip, with the only other player - apart from possibly Henry - at Highbury who is similarly irreplaceable being Patrick Vieira.

The sight of 11 men wearing black might have unnerved the midfielder but he did not allow even Spartak's unusual third-choice strip to affect his overwhelming influence on the game.

Vieira smothered the midfield with blanket coverage.

One moment, he was clearing danger outside his own penalty bos, the next he was setting Robert Pires, Fredrik Ljungberg or Ashley Cole away down the flanks.

For all of Arsenal's domination, however, with the available space on the pitch giving the appearance that extra-time was already being played, their final ball was woeful.

All too often, crosses were either going astray or finding too few potential recipients waiting for them in the box, with Sylvain Wiltord's weekend hat-trick not being enough to stop Bergkamp replacing him.

Bergkamp, who adopts a much deeper role, struck the side-netting with one weak shot, while Henry completely missed his kick in front of goal.

At least David Seaman was relatively inactive, having to save just one tame shot, but if the rest of Vieira's game was superb, his finishing was not up to the same high standard.

One far post volley by the Frenchman was saved, another header from a corner was wide and when Bergkamp slipped his marker, he also found his fierce drive tipped over the bar.

As the rain fell, Arsenal's workrate did not, with emerging full-back Cole sparkling on the left. But still they struggled to make their advantage tell after the interval.

Henry's flicked header was cleared and he contrived to squander another opening, while a rapid succession of corners, including one delivery which flashed untouched across the face of goal, came to nothing.

Bergkamp had a sight of goal but was tackled by Igor Mitreski and Henry somehow guided his shot wide after Ljungberg's horrendous miscue had fallen at his feet.

Spartak lost their influential captain, Egor Titov, presumably through injury, but still they frustrated the Gunners.

Wenger eventually responded with 18 minutes left by introducing Kanu and Wiltord for Bergkamp and Pires, with the Dutchman shaking his head in frustration at the decision and flinging a water bottle away.

If anything, Wiltord's entrance should have come sooner as he brought pace to the front-line, slipping one shot just past the far post.

However, at least he re-energised compatriot Henry alongside him.

And when Cole's corner was swung in with eight minutes left, Henry rose high to direct a powerful header that Jerry-Christian Tchuisse could not prevent crossing the line.

It was the escape route that the Gunners so desperately needed. Their qualification is far from assured, given the tough challenge which awaits them in Munich, but it could have been so much worse.

Teams:

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Grimandi, Cole, Ljungberg, Vieira, Lauren, Pires (Wiltord 71), Bergkamp (Kanu 71), Henry (Vivas 90).

Subs Not Used: Manninger, Edu, Malz, Luzhny.

Goals: Henry 82.

Spartak Moscow: Filimonov, Kovtun, Tchuisse, Baranov, Bulatov, Irismetov, Kalynychenko, Parfenov, Mitreski, Robson, Titov (Pisarev 54).

Subs Not Used: Levytsky, Khizaneishvili, Marcao, Bougakov.

Att: 35,196