Arsenal 4 Charlton Athletic 0: Henry returns to punish Pardew

Arsenal 4-0 Charlton Athletic
Emirates Stadium
Tuesday, January 2, 2007, 7.45pm


Henry slotted home the opener from the penalty spot after Osei Sankofa was sent off for fouling Robin van Persie.


Henry then played a fine one-two with Justin Hoyte for the defender to slot past Scott Carson, who had already magnificently saved fabrom Cesc Fregas.

With Henry back after his well-documented 34-day absence, the skipper's team-mates appeared keen to welcome their leader back with a goal glut.

Arsenal poured forward from the first whistle and after Gilberto Silva and Van Persie went close, Fabregas was denied by a contender for save of the season.

Played into the area, he fired in a shot from 10 yards towards the top corner that Carson somehow stuck out his left hand to and tipped over.

As Charlton began to get more of a footing in the game, an encounter with lots of potential was suddenly dead in the water.

A Fabregas shot from 30 yards got a wicked deflection and looped up on to the crossbar and as Van Persie surged towards the ball, Sankofa bundled him over.

The right-back was harshly dismissed by referee Mike Riley on just his seventh Premiership start and Henry nonchalantly sent Carson the wrong way from the spot.

Just before the break, Hoyte got his first Gunners goal with an effort so beautifully crafted any of his illustrious team-mates would have been proud to call it theirs.

Cutting in from the right he played a sumptuous one-two with Henry and ghosted into the box to expertly slot past Carson into the far corner.

Charlton boss Alan Pardew's main task at half-time must have been trying to prevent a rout, which looked increasingly difficult as Tomas Rosicky fired against a post not long after the restart.

Some of Arsenal's passing was a joy to behold and Henry had a goal ruled out for offside after a sublime move involving the impressive Hleb down the inside right channel.

It was a procession on the Charlton goal and only a mixture of Carson, dogged defending and Arsenal trying to walk the ball in kept the score at 2-0.

Rosicky burst on to a Van Persie pass to force another fabulous save from Carson before the keeper was in the right place again to deny Fabregas 12 yards out.

Henry then shot straight at Carson from inside the box before the disbelieving Frenchman saw the on-loan stopper wonderfully tip away his top corner-bound curler.

Van Persie finally got his name on the scoresheet from the spot with 14 minutes left after Henry bamboozled Diawara and was blatantly tugged to the ground in the box.

The Dutchman made it 4-0 in stoppage time, latching on to a Mathieu Flamini pass and delaying before executing a fine lofted finish over Carson and into the net.

The effortless victory moves Arsenal up to fourth, while Charlton remain a distant six points away from Premiership safety.

[ Source form : news.bbc.co.uk ]