Arsenal produced the scoreline needed to resurrect their Champions League
hopes next week as Thierry Henry's inspirational hat-trick dismissed Portsmouth
at Highbury.
Arsenal trail 3-1 from the first leg of their last 16 tie against Bayern
Munich and need at least a 2-0 win next Wednesday to complete an unlikely
recovery act.
However, while their defensive problems deepened even further, they remain the
Premiership's most potent attacking force and Henry reinforced that point
against Portsmouth.
The Frenchman struck his 20th, 21st and 22nd league goals of the campaign,
taking Arsenal's total to 67 in their 29 games so far.
The only problem is that, despite this clean sheet, they have conceded 32
times and their worries deepened as Pascal Cygan went off injured midway through
the first-half.
While Cygan is hardly the most convincing defender in the league, Arsenal are
already without Sol Campbell for next week's game and effectively need another
clean sheet to reach the quarter-finals.
They can only hope that Henry can display this level of finishing prowess on
Wednesday, having failed to light up Munich's Olympic Stadium in the first leg.
While Henry had recovered from the Achilles injury which ruled him out of the
midweek FA Cup replay win at Sheffield United, there was a slap in the face on
the team-sheet for Robin van Persie.
Despite having served a one-match ban for his red card at Southampton last
weekend, the Dutchman was left on the bench as teenager Quincy Owusu-Abeyie was
given his first Premiership start.
Quincy, as he is known by Arsene Wenger, was immediately involved, racing onto
Patrick Vieira's through-ball only to clip his shot just wide of the far post.
However, while Henry also mishit a shot wide, Portsmouth were unduly disturbed
at this stage, with their five-man midfield stemming the Gunners' attacking
tide.
Indeed, with Arsenal's Achilles heel having been their defence so far this
season, the home side were twice almost caught out on the counter-attack.
Lomana LuaLua tested out Jens Lehmann with an early snap-shot, while Yakubu
beat Cygan to Matthew Taylor's cross and thudded a header against the crossbar.
With Cygan going off with a thigh problem, on came Lauren, with Kolo Toure,
whose confidence has been affected over recent weeks, shifting back into his
normal central defensive position.
Portsmouth, who also replaced Andy Griffin with Linvoy Primus, still
threatened, as Arjan de Zeeuw met Patrik Berger's free-kick with a diving header
that flashed wide.
However, Henry eased Arsenal's worries six minutes before the break as he
swivelled onto Lauren's cross and, after taking one touch, clipped his shot past
Kostas Chalkias.
Giannis Skopelitis then struck a cross straight into Mathieu Flamini at
point-blank range but his claims for a penalty for handball were turned down.
After Primus had been booked for a dangerous tackle on Ashley Cole, Vieira
lifted a chance well over the bar when Chalkias dropped a corner just before the
break.
But Arsenal continued to dominate after the restart, with Cesc Fabregas
heading wide before Flamini won the ball off Skopelitis and Vieira played
through Henry.
The Frenchman was left one-on-one with Chalkias and nonchalantly clipped his
shot over the keeper to put his side 2-0 ahead with 53 minutes gone.
Arsenal never looked entirely comfortable at the back thereafter, even though
Senderos was growing in confidence as the match progressed.
Steve Stone was allowed the space to shoot tamely at Lehmann, while Yakubu
nipped in ahead of Senderos to meet Lomana LuaLua's cross, only to place his
first-time shot just inches wide.
Quincy was then substituted, with van Persie's arrival greeted by murmurs of
dissatisfaction from the home fans.
However, it was still Henry who carried the main threat and he completed his
hat-trick with four minutes left from a free-kick.
He was rather aided by keeper Chalkias, who saved the initial effort yet saw
the ball rebound into the net off his body after hitting the post, but the
Frenchman still took all the plaudits.
Now Arsenal just need the small matter of a repeat performance against
Bayern.
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