Arsenal and France football legend Thierry Henry retires

Tuesday, December 16, 2014 | 10:07 AM    

PARIS, France (AFP) – Former Arsenal and French striker Thierry Henry announced Tuesday he was retiring from football after a glittering two decades long career and will become a TV analyst for Sky Sports in England.

“After 20 years in the game I have decided to retire from professional football,” Henry said in a statement on his Facebook page.

Henry, 37, a world and European champion with France, and the scorer of 228 goals with Arsenal including 175 English Premier League goals for the club, finished his playing career at New York Red Bulls just days ago.

“It is now time for a different career path and I am pleased to say that I will be returning to London and joining Sky Sports,” he said.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said recently that Henry will “certainly” return to the club in some capacity in the future.

Henry, who has a daughter based in England, himself said in recent weeks that he wants to help Arsenal win the Champions League.

Henry first made his mark at French club Monaco before moving to Italian giants Juventus.

But the bulk of his career was spent at Arsenal under Wenger, who brought him to north London in 1999.

He was a crucial part of the 2003-2004 “Invincibles” team alongside fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira, which went unbeaten as it stormed to the Premier League title.

In England, Henry won the Premier League twice and the FA Cup three times.

Henry left England for Barcelona in 2007, spending three years with the Spanish giants with whom he won the Champions League trophy in 2009.

He finished his career in the United States, playing for the New York Red Bulls in the MLS, but returned to Arsenal for four matches on loan from the Red Bulls in 2012, coming on as a substitute to score the winner against Leeds in the third round of the FA Cup.

He could not however prevent the Red Bulls being eliminated in the semi-finals of the playoffs this season.

Henry will also be remembered for a blatant handball in a 2009 World Cup qualifying playoff against the Republic of Ireland which led to the decisive goal for France and a ticket to the 2010 finals.

His last international game was during the 2010 World Cup when he came on as a second-half substitute in a 2-1 loss to hosts South Africa as France were dumped out of a tournament which had been a fiasco for the 1998 World Cup winners.

Capped 123 times for France, he scored a national record 51 goals during his international career which began with a 2-1 win over South Africa in October 1997.

Tributes poured in for Henry, who scored 411 goals during his career, with French professional football league president Frederic Thiriez describing him as a “legend”.

“The English erected a statue to him but in France he did not always get the recognition he deserved,” said Thiriez of the statute dedicated to Henry at the Emirates Stadium.

“With his extraordinary track record and his record of goals for the national side, Thierry Henry nevertheless will remain a legend, he was an exceptional striker. Simply the best.”

Former England international Gary Lineker, now a broadcaster, tweeted: “Congratulations to @ThierryHentry on a truly wonderful career. One of the great footballers of our time and a top bloke. Bonne chance.”

Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey also tweeted: “Congratulations on an outstanding career @ThierryHenry. Top player. Top guy. #Legend,” while England and Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, added: “Happy retirement to my hero and idol @ThierryHenry. Wish you all the best in the next chapter.”

View the original article here

Arsenal and France football legend Thierry Henry retires

Arsenal beat Crystal Palace; Liverpool held

LONDON, England (AP) — In the Premier League’s top-four shuffle, it’s Arsenal leading the way again — for now.

After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 yesterday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s second-half brace.

Now the focus turns to today when Manchester City, who are two points behind Arsenal, host Chelsea, who are three points further back in third.

“I will watch that game with interest because it’s two competitors against us and it’s always interesting to see how they behave,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We gained some points through some other opponents like Liverpool and Man United over this weekend, and I think we know that our results at the Emirates will be massively important until the end.”

Liverpool remained in fourth place, but their 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion was a missed opportunity to strengthen their pursuit of Champions League qualification.

Having led through Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool defender Kolo Toure sloppily gave the ball away to allow Victor Anichebe to equalise for West Brom.

Although Wenger still talks of United as a rival, an eighth loss of the title defence — at Stoke on Saturday — means the champions are seven points behind Liverpool.

And Arsenal are 15 points ahead of United in their quest for a first league title in a decade, after bouncing back from a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Southampton on Tuesday.

Despite dominating against Palace, Arsenal were frustrated throughout the first half in their pursuit of a goal against their relegation-threatened but well-organised London rivals.

The breakthrough came inside two minutes of the restart as Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first Arsenal goal since December 2012 on his first league start since being injured on the opening day of this season in August.

Santi Cazorla weaved his way through the Palace defence and dinked the ball over for Oxlade-Chamberlain to lift the ball over goalkeeper Julian Speroni from close range.

And the 20-year-old England midfielder netted a second in the 73rd minute as he slotted seamlessly back into the injury-hit team.

Thomas Rosicky knocked the ball forward to Olivier Giroud, who backheeled it for Oxlade-Chamberlain to strike low into the net as Arsenal went a 10th game in all competitions unbeaten.

“It’s something I want to add to my game — more goals —so it was nice to get two today,” he said.

And this was a rare day when Luis Suarez couldn’t score for Liverpool, instead turning provider at the Hawthorns.

In a disjointed first-half display by his team, the Uruguay striker fed the ball to Sturridge at the far post to poke the ball into the West Brom net in the 24th minute.

But the winning position was thrown away in the 67th when Toure’s slack cross-field clearance went straight to Anichebe, who levelled with a low shot from a central position.

View the original article here

Arsenal beat Crystal Palace; Liverpool held

Wins for Arsenal, Liverpool in EPL

LONDON, England (AFP) — Lukas Podolski claimed a brace as Arsenal kicked their Premier League campaign into gear yesterday with a 3-1 win over Fulham at a sodden Craven Cottage.

Arsene Wenger’s side were beaten at home by Aston Villa on the season’s opening day, but they beat Fenerbahce 3-0 in midweek in the first leg of their Champions League play-off and carried that momentum into yesterday’s game.Heavy downpours in west London made for a saturated playing surface, but it did not stop Arsenal taking the lead in the 14th minute when Olivier Giroud gathered a low shot from Aaron Ramsey and stabbed the ball past Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale.Podolski made it 2-0 four minutes before half-time when he side-footed home after Stockdale saved from Theo Walcott, and the Germany forward sealed victory in the 68th minute by gathering a pass from Santi Cazorla and arrowing a shot into the bottom-right corner.Darren Bent pulled one back for the hosts in the 77th minute, tapping in a low cross from Dimitar Berbatov to mark his debut with a goal following his loan move from Villa.“It’s never easy to play away or win away and we did it in a convincing way,” Arsenal manager Wenger told BT Sport.“We had a disappointing result against Villa and it was important to respond, and we’ve had two convincing wins, first against Fenerbahce and again today here.”In-form striker Daniel Sturridge scored his eighth goal in his last seven league games to give Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Villa at Villa Park.The England international had scored the only goal of the game in Liverpool’s opening 1-0 win over Stoke City and he repeated the trick with a neatly taken 21st-minute effort.Jose Enrique’s drilled pass from the left was dummied by Philippe Coutinho and Sturridge slipped between a pair of Villa defenders before rounding goalkeeper Brad Guzan and poking the ball into the roof of the net.Villa’s best chance of an equaliser fell to Christian Benteke late on, but the Belgian’s well-struck half-volley drew a fine full-length save from Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.“Second half, of course you expect a wee bit more pressure from them, and Simon made a couple of terrific saves. It was about the three points today and we got the three,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky Sports.“Since January we’ve been getting better and better. We’ll play better than we did today, but what’s important now is that the mentality in the group is to win, and win together.“It’s only the first couple of games, but we’ve shown a lot of really good signs and we just need to keep it going.”Elsewhere, Stoke came from behind to deny promoted Crystal Palace their first points of the season with a 2-1 win at the Britannia Stadium.Marouane Chamakh side-stepped Robert Huth to put Palace ahead in the 31st minute with his first league goal since September 2011, but two goals in four second-half minutes from Charlie Adam and Ryan Shawcross gave Stoke the points in manager Mark Hughes’s first home game.Hull City fared better than their fellow promoted side, with Robbie Brady’s 22nd-minute penalty enough to secure a 1-0 win at home to Norwich City, despite new signing Yannick Sagbo’s first-half red card for an off-the-ball tussle with Russell Martin.An 88th-minute goal from centre back Jose Fonte earned Southampton a 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland, who had taken a third-minute lead with a header from former Juventus midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini.Everton manager Roberto Martinez had to content himself with a 0-0 draw in his first competitive home game, as West Bromwich Albion claimed a point at Goodison Park in the absence of striker Nicolas Anelka, who is on compassionate leave following a personal bereavement.Newcastle United once again left Arsenal target Yohan Cabaye out of their squad as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to West Ham United.Today, Manchester City visit Cardiff City and Tottenham Hotspur host Swansea City, before the first major head-to-head of the campaign on Monday, when Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea travel to champions Manchester United.Arsenal’s Lukas Podolski (left), shoots to score his second goal against Fulham during their English Premier League soccer match at Craven Cottage, London, yesterday. (PHOTO: AP

View the original article here

Wins for Arsenal, Liverpool in EPL

Owen surprise at Suarez Arsenal link

Michael Owen thinks Luis Suarez would be making a surprising career move if he left Liverpool to join Arsenal.

Last week, the Reds rejected a Gunners club record bid of £40m plus £1 for the 26-year-old Uruguay forward, who wants to talk to the London club.

Ex-Liverpool striker Owen told BBC’s Sportsweek that joining Real Madrid or Barcelona would make “more sense”.

“Arsenal are a fabulous club and have got a great heritage, but Liverpool are as big – if not bigger,” he said.

30 goals in 44 appearances for Liverpool last season Since joining from Ajax in January 2011 for £22.7m, has scored 51 in 96 appearances 49 goals in 48 games for Ajax the season before joining Liverpool 31 goals in 62 appearances for Uruguay “I’d be very surprised if he were to move to Arsenal. Madrid or Barcelona would make more sense.”

The 33-year-old, who scored 40 goals in 89 appearances for England, added: “I’m struggling to understand why he would leave and stay in England with Liverpool being the stature they are.”

Recently retired Owen said that the Uruguayan would be more likely to enjoy success in European competition at one of the Spanish clubs next season, rather than at the Gunners.

“From Suarez’s point of view you can understand him if he wants to reach the absolute pinnacle of the game – that’s playing in the Champions League. Liverpool obviously are not in that at the moment,” continued Owen, who joined Real Madrid from Liverpool in 2004.

“Truthfully, can you really see Arsenal winning the Champions League next season or going into the later stages? Unless they buy a good few players then I can’t.”

On Wednesday, Suarez made his first appearance for Liverpool since his infamous bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic’s arm last season, coming off the bench in an 18-minute cameo during the Premier League club’s 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory at the MCG.

With Liverpool 1-0 up, Suarez laid on the Reds’ second for new signing Iago Aspas late in the match.

After the game, Rodgers said: “There’s nothing new to report. He [Suarez] is very much a Liverpool player and over the course of the next couple of weeks we’ve got to get him up to speed.”

Suarez joined Liverpool from Ajax in January 2011 in a £22.7m deal. Last season, the South American scored 30 goals in 44 appearances for the Anfield club.

View the original article here

Owen surprise at Suarez Arsenal link