Henry inspires Gunners

Fulham 0 Arsenal 4: Thierry Henry relaunched Arsenal's quest for Europe at the start of a critical week for the Gunners.

Henry was at his irresistible best as Arsene Wenger’s team suddenly rediscovered their away form at the expense of poor Fulham. The game was settled by first-half goals from skipper Henry and strike partner Emmanuel Adebayor.

Henry grabbed his second, 13 minutes from time, and substitute Cesc Fabregas added the fourth - but it could have been more as Arsenal tore Chris Coleman’s team to shreds.

Fulham defenders Zat Knight and Moritz Volz were driven to such distraction that they almost came to blows as they left the pitch at half-time. Only Tony Warner’s inspired goalkeeping kept the score in single figures with a string of brilliant saves.

Adebayor missed a sitter in the second half, but the win boosts Wenger’s bid for fourth place and injects confidence ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid. Arsenal may have beaten Madrid in the Bernabeu, two weeks ago, but they arrived at Craven Cottage with the form statistics stacked against them and something to prove.

They had won only two of their previous eight away games and Fulham had won nine of their 13 Premiership home games. But Wenger’s men looked in good touch from the start with Gilberto and Abou Diaby directing traffic in the midfield.

Up front, Henry and Adebayor were impossible to contain, drifting away from the centre to leave both full-backs in two or three minds about who to mark. The opening goal came when Henry pulled away to the Arsenal left and Diaby located him with a neat pass.

Henry turned himself towards goal as he accepted the ball and pressed the accelerator to burst clear of Volz before unleashing a fierce rising shot which almost took Warner’s ear off as it flew into the top of the net.

Warner was beaten on his near post but the pure pace of Henry’s drive gave him little chance of keeping it out. Four minutes later and the visitors were further ahead, from a similar position on the pitch.

This time it was Adebayor who drifted from the centre to left and Freddie Ljungberg found him with a clever pass behind former Arsenal full-back Volz. Adebayor applied a cool sidefoot finish to the pass and stroked the ball past Warner into the far corner.

Fulham’s back-four, struggling to cope with Arsenal’s movement, were at loggerheads and Knight and Volz became locked in a heated argument as they left the pitch for half-time. Henry stepped in to make the peace and lead Knight away from the flashpoint before the argument escalated.

Fulham were clearly roused by their manager during the interval and came out for the second half with renewed gusto. Emmanuel Eboue cleared a dangerous Volz cross at full stretch and Jens Lehmann saved from Brian McBride after the American had been released by Steed Malbranque.

But Arsenal looked capable of extending their lead every time they attacked. Volz was having a torrid time at right-back. When Ljungberg abandoned his wide position, Henry moved out to attack on that side. On one of those occasions, Henry jinked down the touchline from the left and delivered a cross which rolled agonisingly across the Fulham goalmouth.

The Gunners forced four corners in succession and then Adebayor missed a sitter. The chance was laid on a plate by Henry but the Togo star took a touch when he might have hit it first time, and then rolled his shot wide.

Henry carved out a chance for Hleb but Warner saved bravely from the Belorussian. Warner made another terrific save moments later when Ljungberg’s cross took a deflection towards goal. The keeper was already committed to diving one way but stuck out a foot and managed to kick the ball clear.

Coleman introduced Collins John into the attack but it did not change things and Warner continued his impressive performance by saving from Ljungberg - but he was beaten again in the 77th minute by Henry.

Ljungberg supplied his skipper and Henry calmly finished his 22nd goal of the season in all competitions. Fulham fans stood to applaud Henry from the field when he was replaced by Jose Antonio Reyes six minutes from time. And Fabregas made it 4-0 in the 86th minute after good work on the left by Mathieu Flamini.