Fabregas: It's easier without Henry
Monday, 24 Sep 2007 11:33
Cesc Fabregas has scored six goals in six games this season
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Cesc Fabregas has revealed that life at
Arsenal is easier since the departure of record goalscorer Thierry Henry.
The Spanish midfielder made the admission after seeing Arsenal stretch their lead at the top of the Premiership with a 5-0 win over Derby on Saturday.
Fabregas has found the net six times in six games for the Gunners this season – more than he managed during the whole previous campaign – to help his team make an unbeaten start to the season in all competitions.
And the 20-year-old believes that much of the freedom he and his team-mates are enjoying is down to the £16.1 million departure of Henry to Barcelona during the summer.
"Henry intimidated us," Fabregas said, according to the Times.
"He is a great player but it was not easy to play alongside him. We were a bit inhibited by him - dependent on everything that he wanted to do. Now it is different."
Many critics had written off Arsenal's chances of success this year after manager Arsene Wenger spent very little on transfers in a summer which saw the departure of Freddie Ljungberg, Jose Antonio Reyes and Julio Baptista as well as Henry.
But Fabregas believes the five wins and one draw the Gunners have achieved in the Premiership, as well as three convincing wins in the Champions League, have confounded such voices.
"Everyone was saying that this year without Henry we would be nowhere. That has motivated everyone," the former Barcelona trainee said.
He added that he felt "valued and wanted" at the Emirates Stadium and felt "like a kid playing in the street" at Arsenal at the present time.
Arsenal have today announced that they have become the first British club to break the £200 million-mark in yearly turnover after the publication of their financial figures for the year ending May 31st 2007