Thierry Henry reached a landmark 100 Premiership goals as Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the league with a 4-0 victory over Birmingham at Saint Andrews.
Henry followed in the footsteps of teammate Dennis Bergkamp, who claimed his ton in the FA Cup win over Oxford last week, with his brace in a comprehensive victory. And although a floodlight failure delayed the start off the match, there was nothing the Birmingham defenders could do to stop the rampant Gunners.
The French ace opened the scoring on 19 minutes when Bergkamp played an inch-perfect ball into his path, allowing Henry to round Vaesen before firing home. Birmingham were on the back foot, and only a fine save from Vaesen kept Edu from doubling Arsenal's lead. Vaesen was unable to do anything about the Gunners' second goal on 29 minutes, when a poor clearence dropped to Robert Pires before the Frenchman volleyed an unstoppable shot past the Birmingham goalkeeper.
Christophe Dugarry, making his Birmingham debut, was the Blues' main attacking outlet and caused the Arsenal deffence some genuine moments of concern, but a lack of support from midfield left him feeding off scraps, and it seemed only a matter of time before Arsene Wenger's men extended their lead.
And so it proved on 67 minutes, when Vaesen clearance from a corner fell to Bergkamp 30 yards from goal. The Dutchman lofted the ball into the danger area and Edu made ammends for his previous miss by looping a header into the net.
But the day belonged to Henry, who notched up his 100th goal in 181 games when he calmly slotted a low shot past the Birmingham goalkeeper after some impressive build-up play by Wiltord and Pires.
Filed by Rob Wright
