It may be just a coincidence that Arsenal put on the best away performance in a really big game for years on the same day that our former striker, record goal scorer and all round legend Thierry Henry was in the TV studio for the first time to give his verdict. But I have a feeling there may be more to it than that.
One theory is that the Arsenal players took some inspiration from the fact that Henry was at the Etihad stadium with Sky Sports. Perhaps they thought that they had better give the Frenchman something good to say about his former club and perhaps they just wanted to recapture some of the on-pitch success that the Gunners had when Henry was in the team.
Henry’s presence in the commentary box might have had an even bigger effect on the French Gunners and there is no doubt that Francis Coquelin, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny all had outstanding games. If Henry did help to inspire the brilliant Arsenal performance, hopefully it will continue and our next game on Sky Sports, at home to Aston Villa next weekend, should be an easy win if it does.
I have one more little personal theory, Gooners, on the Henry effect. Another coincidence maybe, but the Gunners got a soft penalty decision when a former player is in the TV studio to run the rule over the game. Would we have got it with the usual Man United and Liverpool biased pundits? Maybe I don’t know but the fact that Mourinho has previously complained about not having former Chelsea players as pundits suggests that he thinks there may be an advantage there.
What do you think Gooners?