By Jak Penny
The Gunners’ all-time leading goalscorer believes his former club should strive for more and hopes their delight on the final day was because they had finished above their rivals.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry hopes his former club were celebrating on the final day of the season because they beat Tottenham to a top-four finish – and not because they qualified for the Champions League.
The Gunners triumphed over Newcastle on the Premier League’s final day to finish above their north London adversaries and clinch the final spot in Europe’s premier club competition.
As a fan of the club, Henry admits that finishing above Spurs feels like winning a trophy but believes finishing in the top four should be considered the minimum expectation for Arsene Wenger’s team.
“For me as a fan or if I was a player at Arsenal, finishing in the top-four would have been normal,” Henry told Sky Sports.
“We saved our season and that was it because you always want to win and I know people go on about the pictures and all of this celebration.
“But I can tell you I think it was more the fact that for any Arsenal player, when you really feel the shirt and really play for the club, putting Tottenham out of the top four, and I really do hope that’s what they were celebrating about.
“Because that is the only thing you can celebrate about. If you are an Arsenal man through-and-through that is like winning something for me.
“And I also said it when we did it to them in 2006 that it wasn’t the fact we qualified for the Champions League, it is because we kicked them out of it and we went in.”
Wenger has never failed to secure Champions League qualification since his arrival at the club in 1996 and Henry admits he is struggling to contemplate an Arsenal team without the Frenchman in the dugout.
“For me it’s very difficult for me to see Arsenal play, one day, without Arsene on the bench,” he acknowledged.
“Whatever, after, people can say ‘oh yeah they won, they didn’t win’ but for me there I will see Arsenal play without Arsene on the bench, its going to be weird.
“So I’d just love to have him there all the time. We all know that’s not going to happen, one day he’s going to have to go.
“But it will be hard as he’s not thinking of leaving one day. It will happen eventually, we all know it, but I don’t see it.”
