By Boris Mellor
February 2 2005

Wenger had previously suggested he would rest players in the FA Cup before big games, but perhaps he only meant Europe, or perhaps he is worried about Henry’s goal scoring drought.

Nonetheless Henry has played extremely well in the last two games and proved a key provider of chance. But early on in the game Henry seemed somewhat disgruntled that his winter break had ended early.

However the lunacy of a linesman eventually fired him up, as for much of the first half he was taking it easy. But a Wolves player fell over with no assistance from Henry and the assistant referee flagged for a free kick. Henry remonstrated with the official; Riley came over and read Henry the riot act. Thanks Mike, and I mean that most sincerely. It never does to upset Henry, although it was hardly Wolves fault that Riley is an idiot. Suddenly it was a turbo charged Henry who began to slalom into the Wolves penalty area at great speed. But half time was near and Wolves nemesis was deferred.

It had not been a great first half, for the first twenty minutes Arsenal played at speed and passed well, but were thwarted by the Wolves defence and the excellent goal keeping of Oakes. They then decided to slow things down and try a more patient approach. However this allowed Wolves into the game and the Arsenal defence was occasionally put under pressure, although Lehmann had no real saves to make.

But then Riley made a few questionable decisions, Henry and the crowd became fired up and the tempo stepped up. Half time proved only temporary relief for Wolves Arsenal were now pounding on the half open door of the opposition’s defence. Reyes brought down a Vieira's pass and was pulled over inside the box. Riley waved away Arsenal's appeals but awarded a penalty a split-second later when Oakes brought down Henry who latched on to the loose ball. Henry has a superstition about taking penalties when they are given for a foul on himself.

Surprisingly none of the strikers stepped forward, and the coolest penalty taker of them all, Ralph, was on winter leave. So it was Vieira who put the ball on the spot. I will be honest; I did not fancy his chances against the mighty Oakes. Clock Enders, evicted to the North Bank for the day, murmured their unease. But Paddy took a perfect penalty, swift and well out of the reach of Oakes.

Inspired by the goal the Gunners launched attack after attack, but Oakes incredibly kept everything out including a point blank shot by Freddy. If it had been a boxing match the referee would have stopped it, and awarded victory to Arsenal on points. While it remained at one – nil Wolves were in with a chance. Their fans started to tease Jens, who had cleared badly from goal, in the hope he would slip up. Would Wolves hit lucky?

However on the 82nd minute the game was put beyond Wolves reach. Henry got to the byline and crossed low for Ljungberg who was clear of the goalie, this time Oakes had no chance, Freddy slammed the ball into the net. At 2-0 there was no way back for Wolves, and to be brutally honest the final score flattered them.

Vieira 53
Ljungberg 82

• Jens Lehmann
• Pascal Cygan
• Sol Campbell
• Gael Clichy
• Emmanuel Eboue
• Fredrik Ljungberg
• Quincy Owusu-Abeyie 84
• Patrick Vieira
• Mathieu Flamini
• Jose Reyes
• Robert Pires 70
• Thierry Henry
• Robin van Persie
• Cesc Fabregas 76

SUBS

• Manuel Almunia
• Justin Hoyte