Farewell Thierry

Went to Highbury last night to see West Ham's first victory over Arsenal there for 11 years. Despite the depressing scoreline (2-3 to the pearly monkeys), it was actually a thrilling game.

As the throngs of Gooners passed through the long tunnel that comprises Arsenal tube station, we could hear the Hammers singing their irritating Michael Jackson anthem 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles'.

The team tore into them for the first 20 minutes and Anton Ferdinand was key in withstanding the onslaught. But then two goals by them out of nowhere. Well, you can read the match report here.

What I'm more concerned about is that I think this game might have sealed Thierry Henry's move away from Highbury and the new stadium at Ashburton Grove. I know he said at Christmas, 'I love this club and I've made up my mind to stay'. But this game was so important in maintaining our push for the fourth Champions' League place. Spurs lost the night before, Manchester USA lost the same night, and Liverpool drew. So what does Arsenal do?

If there's no Champions' League next year, and Chavski will be winning the Premiership for the next few years until Roman Abramovich sells the whole place for flats, why would Henry stay? He was deeply frustrated by the sale of Vieira and Edu without adequate replacement (and rightly so). He looks increasingly irritated with the misplaced passes from his teammates (not that that's any way for a captain to behave), and is now clearly the only superstar on a team that used to be, collectively, super.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those stupid Gooners who think glory is ours by right. If we have a fallow period, or indeed, if we never win anything again I'll still go to the matches and support the club. I'm just concerned with the loss of one of Arsenal's greatest ever players (he passed Arsenal's League goalscoring record last night).

Clearly Arsene is building for the future, and building well. Next season, or the one after that, our youngsters will be dominant. Van Persie was stunning last night, and Diaby was great before being taken off. But in the last week we've gone out of both domestic cup competitions, have slipped badly in the Prem, and next month we'll be defeated over two legs in the Champion's League by Real Madrid.

Still, as Mickey Cannon in the Gooner magazine observes, the evening following the Real Madrid vs Arsenal game in Madrid could be amusing,

with football fans in Madrid bars watching the Chelsea v Barcelona game. There'll be the Arsenal fans cheering on Barca and the Madrid fans cheering on Chelsea! Any American tourist strolling into the bar just won't get it.