Henry does it again
I don't know who gives Henry the script before the game but the Arsenal legend could not have wished for a better farewell, as his injury time winner gave Sunderland their first home defeat under Martin O'neill. This was his last game with the club in the Premiership before he returns to America and even though he was only on for 20 minutes with just a single shot, he still delivered.
Arsenal enjoyed most of the possession however it was Sunderland who had the first chance, with Mclean heading Sebastian Larsson's corner over the bar on 11 minutes. The visitors fielded a strong side with Arteta, Rosicky, Oxlade- Chamberlain and Walcott threatening at every opportunity. Despite Arsenal's dominance, the home side defended well, with the best chance coming from Walcott who's shot fired across goal after 25 minutes. Sunderland felt they should have been given a penalty just before half time, when Mertsacker tried to control the ball with his chest, but also hit it with his hand as it bounced up off the ground. The referee said play on.
After a relatively uneventful 70 minutes of play the game sprung into life. The Gunners fell behind after Per Mertesacker suffered a bizarre injury to his ankle when attempting to bring the ball under control to play it back to the goaly, which put James Mclean through on goal to rifle a shot past Szczesny. With not long to go it seemed as if it was going to be another bad day at the office for the London side, however Mertsecker's substitute, Aaron Ramsey made an almost immediate impact. The ball broke loose on the edge of the penalty box and the Welshman capitalised on this, sending a low driven shot towards goal, which hit both posts before spinning over the line.
With injury time almost over Andrey Arshavin broke down the left wing and delivered an inch perfect cross into the box. Subsitute Thierry Henry timed his run perfectly to break in between John O'Shea and Jack Colback to volley the ball past the Sunderland keeper. Henry may not have the physical attributes he used to, but composure and movement has seen him score three goals in his short loan spell.
The win sends Arsenal into fourth place overtaking Chelsea. Henry has one more game left, against AC Milan in the Champions League before he returns to the New York Red Bulls. He says he just wants to 'help', and he is doing just that. I'm sure Wenger will appreciate it if he can muster up one last match winner, just for old times sake.
