The way I see it - Arsenal v Rosenborg

Last updated : 07 December 2004 By Jason Hogan

The Arsenal are lucky to have two players that have achieved that distinction. One of them is Dennis Bergkamp and the other is some French chap whose squad number at Arsenal is number 14.

By the time this season is over it's possible that Thierry Henry, World Cup winner, European Champion, dual Premiership and FA Cup winner could add the mantle of being Arsenal's greatest ever goalscorer to his overflowing list of achievements - not bad for a guy that is supposed to be a shirker, a bottler and a man without a big match temperament.

I'm not going to even bother attempting to justify Henry's credentials any further because anybody either inside or outside Highbury that is stupid enough not to acknowledge them needs to seriously consider an extended stay at the nearest mental facility.

It's a shame that Thierry was moved to say in the wake of the latest wave of criticism aimed at him that he personally would be blamed if Arsenal fail to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League. It's not as if his boots are not capable of doing his talking for him but, as he also said, he is not a machine and because he is a human being, his feelings can be compromised like everyone else.

Still, to quote the words of Andy Gray who, after Henry bagged his fourth goal against Leeds, said "I've seen many things in the last 25 years in top flight football - but I haven't seen anything like him". I couldn't describe Henry any better than that myself.

Monsieur Va Va Voom certainly came to the party last Saturday on what was always going to be fairly tense afternoon at Highbury. Everyone knew exactly how Birmingham were going to set their stall out and as I said in the run up to the game, it was always going to be a game where we needed to employ mind over matter.

It wasn't altogether a vintage Arsenal showing but I take heart from the fact that we wore our opponents down in the end and ground out a result. Given that everyone's been going around saying that we need to start winning ugly and grinding out results it was just what the doctor ordered.

And so to Tuesday night and our final Champions League group game with Rosenborg.

The Norwegians have apparently been in town since the back end of last week and I understand that quite a few members of the team were at Highbury running the rule over us on Saturday.

And, listening to Harald Brattbakk, the ex-Celtic striker who is now back with Rosenborg, the Norwegians are taking this game very seriously even though they can't even qualify for a UEFA cup spot.

Brattbakk, when asked for his observations on what he saw at Highbury, diplomatically elected to say that his team will need to be at their very best in order to get anything from the game. And, you know what? I think that he is right.

You see, although we will have Vieira and Lauren missing amongst others on Tuesday I honestly think that the Arsenal lads will be really keen to set the record straight. Deep down, the players know that they haven done themselves justice in Europe so far this season and they certainly know that they should have beaten this lot out in Norway a couple of months ago.

Whilst I agree with some press assumptions that this is a big week for Arsenal I think that this game is bigger for us than next Sunday's game. Deep down, everyone at the club knows that we need to get into the last 16 for all kinds of reasons and I think that a good result here, no to mention all that will come with it, will boost morale within the Arsenal ranks no end.

I will freely admit that European nights always fill me with the kind of trepidation that simply doesn't exist when we are playing at domestic level regardless of the opposition. But this is not a time for faint hearts and I think that it's not just the players who have to stand up and be counted on the night I think the fans do too. If ever the Highbury faithful had a part to play in the teams fortunes it's definitely over the next five days or so.