One down, three to go

David Lacey

At Highbury

By the end of this month Arsenal and Middlesbrough should feel like an old married couple - assuming that in the interim Middlesbrough do not seek refuge in a home for battered wives.

Having lost 4-1 at Highbury on Saturday, not to mention being beaten 4-0 by Arsenal at the Riverside last August, Steve McClaren's players now have to meet Arsene Wenger's team three more times in eight days: twice in the League Cup semi-finals, with an FA Cup fourth-round tie in between.

By then McClaren may have come up with a more imaginative tactical approach than dropping a wonky safety curtain across the pitch in the hope that nobody yells "fire!" At least Middlesbrough can take comfort from the knowledge that Wenger intends using Thierry Henry, their principal tormentor, sparingly - if at all - in the forthcoming cup matches.

If Arsenal are to regain the Premiership title and make better progress in the Champions League this time around, they will need Henry to stay fresh for the spring. Wenger, therefore, will not play the striker in the League Cup and will almost certainly have him on the bench in the next round of the FA Cup.

"Thierry wants to play every game but I will have to rest him at some stage," Wenger explained after Saturday's match. "He can't go on to the end of the season like this, that's 100 per cent. I know approximately when I will do it and I will not play him in the League Cup.

"March, April and May will be decisive and it's very important to give him a rest before then," he added. A glance at Arsenal's February fixtures, when they are due to play Manchester City, Wolves and Southampton, Chelsea and Charlton, suggests that Henry will have several opportunities to put his feet up.

Not that Wenger has a wealth of attacking alternatives just now. Dennis Bergkamp and Sylvain Wiltord will be out for at least another 10 days and, even if Nwankwo Kanu succeeds in deferring his call-up by Nigeria for the African Nations' Cup he will have to pack up his old kit bag eventually.

Without Henry Arsenal's football loses the blistering speed and mental and physical dexterity which forces opponents to look over their shoulders even when they are attacking. Middlesbrough arrived with a good defensive record - only four goals conceded in 10 league games - but left knowing that of the 23 against them this season eight have been scored by an Arsenal team inspired by Henry.

Danny Mills appeared to take it personally. The Boro right back set out to nag Henry both physically and verbally and, when Arsenal were awarded a penalty seven minutes before half-time, he attempted to delay the kick conversationally.

Maybe he wanted to discuss top-up fees or the likely findings of the Hutton inquiry. Either way Henry was sorry, he would love to stay and chat but he had a penalty to take, and this he duly dispatched past Mark Schwarzer.

Alas, poor Mills. When Middlesbrough were given a penalty late on, Jens Lehmann being adjudged to have brought down Massimo Maccarone, the England defender clearly expected to take it but was brushed aside by the Italian, who duly scored.

Then Mills tried to screen the ball from Henry by a corner flag only to lose it to a reverse nutmeg that left him facing a jeering crowd. Later Wenger complained about Mills's delaying tactics and thought the referee should have acted, but Henry's retribution was more effective and entertaining than anything Andy D'Urso could have come up with.

In general Arsenal were not at their very best because they did not need to be. Some of their football was lackadaisical.

"We defended badly and we didn't pass the ball well," McClaren complained, but until he replaced Doriva with Juninho just past the hour Middlesbrough had no one to keep possession and relieve the pressure on their overworked defence. Juninho's quick free-kick, which sent Maccarone clear to win the penalty, was the only time Boro caught Arsenal by surprise.

That said, Ugo Ehiogu and Gareth Southgate have had better days. Ehiogu's mistimed lunge, which clipped Patrick Vieira's heel, brought Arsenal's penalty which was followed, in first-half stoppage time by an own goal from Franck Queudrue, who deflected Henry's free-kick past Schwarzer.

In the 57th minute Southgate intercepted a low ball from Henry only to set up Robert Pires, who scored Arsenal's third, and in the 68th minute three defenders failed to stop the fourth, scored off a post by Frederik Ljungberg.

"It's a case of licking our wounds and saying that we won't play like that the next time we come here," said McClaren. Boro had better get licking - and quick.

Guardian Service