Arsenal's team spirit makes Henry feel at home

Frenchman has found happiness with Gunners and is eager to repay Wenger's faith but refuses to get carried away with the hype

The television in Arsenal's training ground canteen was showing the Ryder Cup. Several players were watching before boarding the team coach to Leeds and today's high noon fixture. Thierry Henry was not interested. "I don't play golf," he said. "I need to run when I do sport." The good news for fans of Arsenal, and good football, is that he intends to keep running at Premiership defences for a good few years yet. While the talk this week was of the new Wembley, Henry was already getting excited about playing at Ashburton Grove, Arsenal's new stadium.

"I can't wait for the new stadium," he said. "I think it will be really special. When the fans are behind us, Highbury is great. I hope the new stadium will be even better because there will be more people." Since Ashburton Grove is still at least three years from completion it is clear that Henry sees his medium-term future, at the very least, at Highbury. He confirmed: "I will stay here as long as Arsenal want me to play for them. I will try to do my best for the team, the fans, everyone who cares about me. I will never forget that Arsenal gave me a hand when I was really down. Since I arrived here my career has changed."

Henry turned up at Highbury in August 1999, a refugee from Juventus where his career had stagnated so badly that he was unable to hold down a place in the French squad. Eighty-seven goals and 159 appearances later he is fast cementing his reputation as one of the world's best forwards and Arsenal are hinting at greatness.

"I expected Arsenal to do well when I came but you never know," said Henry. "In my first season we lost some people: Marc Overmars, Manu Petit. The year after Lauren, Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord had just arrived. It is not easy to put a team together. You can't just say 'I'll buy him, him, him, and have a good team the day after. It takes time. It is nearly two years now and we play like we know each other. I know the runs Freddie likes, what sort of ball Patrick [Vieira] likes to give, where Dennis [Bergkamp] will be. That is important.

"We play more as a team than ever. In my first season if we were struggling we would not get any points. This year, at West Ham and Chelsea, we got something. That is when you know a team has a spirit."

Two goals and another spellbinding performance for Arsenal at Eindhoven in midweek further encouraged the hope within the marble halls that Henry, together with Vieira, Bergkamp and company, will finally guide Arsenal to the one trophy which continues to elude them, the European Cup.

Henry said: "That win will give us a lot of confidence because we have not performed well away from home and PSV have a good home record in the Champions' League. But it is only one game. You have to do it regularly." This, it becomes clear as we talk, is a cornerstone of Henry's philosophy. He is loquacious, and the words come at a rush, but he does not shout the odds. "I see lots of things in the papers, Arsenal this and Arsenal that. At the moment we are doing well and it is very enjoyable but I want to be doing well at the end. Then you can talk."

Martin Keown wanders past and wishes Henry luck at Leeds with an expression that suggests the defender is going to miss the biennial dust-up. "Leeds is always tough," said Henry. "Lee Bowyer, Alan Smith... they have passion. It'll be a good game and, in a good sense – don't get me wrong – a good fight. They'll be contenders. Everyone talks of us, Man United, Liverpool. But there is also Chelsea, Newcastle and Leeds. Every year one team surprises people."

Is he surprised at Manchester United's slow start? "Last season everyone said they are finished but they were around at the end. A big team never dies. That's what we say in France. Only at the end of the season can you judge."

The same applies to individuals. Henry added: "I feel for Michael Owen. Last year they were saying he is the best striker in the world. Now they say he is no good because he hasn't scored for a few games. I know things change quickly in football but leave the guy alone. He is your striker for England. You want him back in the business. Instead of putting him down you should be reminding everyone how good he is. He is still young, he will be a great striker for years.

"The same goes with what people were saying about Ruud van Nistelrooy and are about [Jimmy Floyd] Hasselbaink. They are great strikers. They have already shown that to the world. I really feel for them. I know what they are going through. I know it might happen to me tomorrow.

"The year before last I went though a bad period. I went six games. I was doing the same things as normal, on the pitch and off. It just wasn't going in. When that happens the first thing you do is make sure you won't lose the ball. You don't take risks. If you don't take risks you don't score.

"That goal against West Ham this season [a spectacular volley]. If I wasn't confident I wouldn't have even tried it. I would have controlled the ball and given it to someone."

Ironically, Henry emerged from his last bad patch with an even more stunning goal, a dipping volley against Manchester United. Then, though, it was borne of desperation, not confidence. "I only tried it because I did not know what else to try any more. I had missed everything."

Henry was always a precocious talent, but things did not always go easily for him. A graduate of the same Clâirefontaine finishing school that produced Nicolas Anelka and David Trezuguet he scored 45 goals in a season for the Monaco youth team at 16. Arsène Wenger, then the Monaco manager, fast-tracked him into the first team 14 days after his 17th birthday without even a reserve team game.

Wenger, though, then left for Japan and, with Sonny Anderson and Victor Ikpeba leading the line, Henry was moved to the right flank. It was as a winger he broke into the national team and, in January 1999, was signed by Juventus. Only when he returned to Wenger's tuteledge did he return to a central role. Except with France where only now, under new manager Jacques Santini, is he being played in the centre.

"The World Cup in Korea was tough," he said. "I will always remember it. You have to remember the bad moments as well as the good ones. They make you stronger. We did not perform. I was injured with a bad knee. I was played on the left and I was sent off."

The year 1998 was much more successful for France but prompted mixed emotions for Henry. He started the tournament in the team but although he scored three goals (more than anyone else in the squad) he was dropped to the bench and did not get on in the final.

On the credit side, though, it did prompt a wave of multi-culturalism, a topical issue in the wake of the racist abuse Henry received in Eindhoven this week. Henry recalled. "Sometimes in France it is not that easy for people but when we won the World Cup for three months everyone was French. No one was saying someone was black, white, Algerian. It was nice but, of course, it did not last. He added, of Eindhoven: "I heard some stuff shouted at me which wasn't nice but I didn't ask for an investigation. I said if Uefa want to do something that is up to them. I just want to talk about football and play football. I am a football player, not a police officer.

"I don't know if the people shouting meant it or not. Sometimes they are just trying to put you off your game. I like to have a connection with the fans – but that is our fans. I don't think about the other fans."

Henry, who said he had never experienced abuse in England, added: "What happened in France after the World Cup is why I really enjoy football and sport. It might sound strange but only sport and music can bring people together. Maybe only one second, but still one second. Like if Ray scores a goal [he indicates Ray Parlour, still absorbed in the golf] I will give him a hug. When people see that, I'm sure somewhere in their mind it registers that there is no colour, only nationality and we are all human beings."