Everyone, including us, thought the decline of Arsenal FC was inevitable after Thierry Henry decided to leave for Barcelona. The Gunners have proved everyone wrong, once again we’re included in that mess, and have stuck to the top tier of the Premiership tables since August. We’re not excluding some kind of wizardry is involved, but Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas says the team’s success is basically due to Henry’s departure.

“I have more responsibility than before,” Fabregas said. “When you looked at Arsenal a year or two years ago, you just saw Thierry Henry. It was a little bit like the other players did not exist. But when he left it was an opportunity for everybody to show we are a team and a good club. Even if the best player in the world is leaving us, we can still achieve something.”

Let us evaluate for a second. Thierry’s role in the team over the latter years was usually coming from the bench. The cohesion and efficiency the team is exemplifying now is due to the fact that they had two years of mediocre soccer (minus 2005) to grow together without him anyway. Us aficionados were just duped into believing Arsenal couldn’t live without him. Yet, Fabregas’ comments come a bit premature because last we checked, there are still five months brewing in the EPL pot and the Champions League is very far from over.

Fabregas: Henry’s departure helped squad [FoxSports]
Image [El Mundo]