Wenger: Having Henry around is good for us

Arsène Wenger believes having Thierry Henry back training at Arsenal is "an honour and a pleasure", and will only improve the squad's confidence.

Henry has been involved in training at London Colney during the MLS off-season, and Wenger is delighted to have him. "It is an honour because he is a legend at the club and he is coming back," he said yesterday, "[and] a pleasure because when he is on the football pitch, he is still a great player".

The experience of winning two Premier League titles and three FA Cups at Arsenal could, Wenger believes, be usefully passed on to Arsenal's youngsters. "Confidence, experience, advice," he said of the benefits of Henry's stay. "He's a very intelligent man and that's always good to have in a dressing room. When you have a difficult game and you are told: 'don't worry you will come back', when you hear that from a great player it gives you a high level of confidence."

This praise does not necessarily mean, though, that Henry will be offered a short-term deal at Arsenal. While Wenger said that "in football you rule very few things out", it is understood that a loan deal is extremely unlikely.

Arsenal travel to Norwich City this afternoon, and Wenger hopes that the team can continue their escape from the "hell" of a start – Arsenal won one of their first five league games, but have won five of their following six.

"I think the team is getting stronger from game to game, so overall I expect that momentum to keep going and for us to go from strength to strength," he said. "Usually once the devil has you in his hands he doesn't let you go again."