Highbury salutes rise of the new Wright

Champions' League: Arsenal reserve goalkeeper's nerveless display and penalty save against Greeks puts pressure on Seaman

One by one, the old Highbury heroes and their great deeds are being upstaged. By scoring twice in Arsenal's critical 2-1 victory over Panathinaikos on Tuesday, Thierry Henry beat Ian Wright's club record of 15 goals in European matches; meanwhile, the "Wright, Wright, Wright" chant was echoing round the stadium, not in remembrance of goals past, but in homage to a new star, Richard Wright having marked his home and European debuts with a brilliant penalty save that proved to be worth two extra Champions' League points.

"A lucky guess" was the goalkeeper's modest assessment of the moment that endeared him to a home crowd who have worshipped David Seaman for the past 11 years. Whether or not Arsène Wenger believes him, the Arsenal manager is now convinced that Seaman's understudy will sooner or later become the pony-tailed one's successor for club and country. "I have two first-choices now," he said, with mathematical imprecision but understandable satisfaction. "I'll make the decision between them when I have to. David is England's No 1, but Richard will be one day. He not only had a great Champions' League debut, he is intelligent, a good reader of the game and never panicked."

The sense of time moving on was also reflected in Wenger's decision to leave Martin Keown on the substitutes' bench. With Seaman, 38, Lee Dixon, 37, and Tony Adams, 35, all injured, and Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn long gone, it was only the second time in 16 years that Arsenal had taken the field without at least one member of that fabled sextet in defence. The first was at Southampton on Saturday, when Matthew Upson deputised for the suspended Keown and did well enough to retain his place on Tuesday.

Despite conceding the penalty that should have brought Panathinaikos level, the 22-year-old Upson is looking more like the immensely promising teenager signed from Luton Town for £1m four years ago. Since then two serious injuries have hindered his progress, and a loan spell at Crystal Palace in a struggling team last spring did not have the desired effect. But a run of five successive games, including the testing away match against Panathinaikos three weeks ago, has restored his flagging self-belief. "Eventually I needed to make that breakthrough and I am a step closer to it now," he said.

With Sol Campbell having played only eight games in a red shirt, and the full-backs Lauren and Ashley Cole defensively suspect at times, it is hardly surprising that opposing teams at the highest level can still cause problems; locking the door on Derby and Southampton is one thing, but Arsenal have not had a shut-out in their last seven Champions' League games. Thanks to Henry, however, and his four goals in the home matches against Panathinaikos and Schalke 04, they are now level on points with second-placed Real Mallorca, who have to visit Highbury next Wednesday. Schalke, despite their remarkable 4-0 victory in Spain this week, should be out of the qualifying equation before Arsenal play them in the final group match.

* Real Mallorca have sacked their coach, Bernd Krauss, following the defeat to Schalke. The German, who held the job for less than four months, had been under pressure after a poor start to the season.