By Myles Palmer

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THIERRY HENRY is a one-off.

He is a goal-machine who does not play like other goal-machines.

When he is 100% fit he stands around quite a lot.

Last night he was 90% fit and he stood around five yards offside, stood around on the left wing, stood around on the 30-yard line.

And that's how the first goal came in 23.

A move on the right, Reyes went infield and tried to play a one-two with Gilberto and Henry stepped forward and hit sidefoot shot that curved and dipped down just inside the base of the post, with the flame-jerseyed keeper not diving, not even moving.

Most shots from there fly wide, but this was a stunning goal, a bolt of lightning that came during the storm, not before.

Up till then the swirling downpour was winning the first half, squally gusts blowing sheets of rain made silver in the floodlights

The pitch held up beautifully and drained efficiently, as always, and the players did well to control the ball and keep their balance.

The "game" was quite dull, too one-sided to be exciting. Boys and men, really.

The first half seemed to last forever.

You knew that Dennis couldn't score, you knew that Reyes couldn't score, so it was only about: What will Henry do?

ROBIN VAN PERSIE came on for Henry in 66 minutes and hit a ferocious straight free-kick which keeper Blazek palmed over.

Reyes had been trying hard but getting nowhere.

Then his perseverance paid off as he blocked a pass by the right back and the ball broke for Bergkamp and his measured crossfield pass found RVP, who hit a left-foot scorcher for 2-0.

Then sub Eboue led another good move and Van Persie fired home with his right foot for 3-0.

VAN PERSIE gives you something different because he gives the ball a whack.

He sometimes fiddles with it, sometimes passes square, but he's a good improviser with a sense of urgency and he loves to give the ball a whack.

He is dynamic.

When he comes on, games change. Instantly.

I expected Van Persie to start but Arsene used him cleverly in this game.

He was hoping Henry could give him an hour. If TH14 could not do more than 45, RVP would have come out for the second half.

It's an 18-man game in Europe and a lot of it is : Let's see how we go fitness-wise, chance-wise, goal-wise, .

TO SEE BERGKAMP and Van Persie play together was to realise the difference between them.

Dennis thinks himself into dangerous positions.

Van Persie dribbles himself into dangerous positions.

The team play was more inventive, more coherent when van Persie was on in that last half hour.

Partly because Sparta put on another striker, so the game opened up.

When Reyes was subbed he got a standing ovation. Fans love effort.

The visitors had good chances and could have scored twice.

But overall it was the weakest Sparta Prague team I've ever seen.

Benfica or Betis or Lille would beat them easily.

ITS NICE TO BE home today after a Wednesday of rushing about.

At 5.30 I was being beaten up by Judith, my lovely osteopath, and at 6.30 I was at Baker Street being told that Kings Cross station was closed due to a signal failure.

A friendly, bald man said, "Are you going to Arsenal? I've seen you outside the ground."

We had to go via Piccadilly Circus and by the time we stepped out into Gillespie Road I was exhausted by his questions. I was drained, knackered.

We had a very intense discussion about every current Arsenal player, and about some who left the club long ago, like Anelka, Petit and Keown.

The man was serious and knowledgeable.

He told me that many reporters know nothing about football, so I didn't let on that I wrote a book about Mr Wenger.

At the beginning of our journey together he asked, "Who do you think we should get?"

And when we got out of the tube station he said," So who do you think we should get?"

AFTER THE GAME I was on the platform at Kings Cross, which had re-opened, trying to gather my thoughts.

Incredibly, the same guy appeared and asked, "What did you think?"

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ARSENAL (4-4-2): Almunia; Lauren, Campbell, Touré, Clichy; Pires (Fabregas, 73), Flamini, Gilberto, Reyes (Eboué, 82); Bergkamp, Henry (Van Persie, 66).

Subs not used: Poom (keeper), Song, Cygan, Senderos.

SPARTA (4-1-4-1): Blazek; Pergl, Petrous (Jeslinek, 80), Lukas, Kadlec; Petras; Pospech, Zelenka, Hasek, Polacek (Slepicka, 59); Matusovic.

Subs not used: Grigar (keeper), Dosek, Herzan, Loucka.

November 3rd 2005.

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