For a manager who has already undergone two Premiership defeats and has several forwards injured, Arsene Wenger was a surprisingly serene figure yesterday. He described Chelsea's perfect opening to the season as "a lucky start" and he is sure that they will have troubles of their own once they lose a match.
"When you win a championship it goes well for a while," the Arsenal manager said. "The difficulties come later. Football is not as predictable as it looks at the moment. You are on a roll and even when you don't play well you win. Then you lose when you didn't deserve to."
Arsenal have never made a successful defence of the title under Wenger. A loss at Old Trafford last season ended a sequence of 49 Premiership matches unbeaten and they looked traumatised for months. In October 2002, when Arsenal were champions and FA Cup holders, a first loss of the season to Everton, thanks to Wayne Rooney's famous goal, was followed by three successive 2-1 defeats .
Wenger, of course, cannot take advantage of a Chelsea lapse unless his own team are prospering. He went as far as he could in suggesting that Henry will stay at the club without offering any guarantees. The captain's deal runs till 2007 but he has been at the club for over three years and under Fifa legislation he would be entitled to leave next summer and compensation to Arsenal would either be agreed with his new employers or set by Fifa.
A newspaper report yesterday linked Henry with Barcelona. "Our desire and motivation to keep Thierry here is 100 per cent," Wenger insisted. "If Thierry is who he is today, it is because we have always believed in him. That will not change with one headline. I think he wants to stay, but that's me saying it. I do not pretend to speak for him. Thierry holds the key."
Patrick Vieira has suggested he left Highbury for Juventus to try and win the European Cup, but Wenger disputes such logic, which might sway Henry. "There aren't any guarantees (even) at a massive club," said Wenger. "We want Thierry to be here, we are very ambitious and we want to win the European Cup."
In Henry's absence with a groin strain, Jose Antonio Reyes has come to prominence. The 22-year-old forward, bought from Sevilla in January 2004, signed a contract extension in the summer. "He wants the ball," Wenger said of Reyes's recent displays.
"The main change is in his head. I feel maybe he was waiting for a sign that we believed in him." Wenger expects Reyes and a reshaped Arsenal to challenge for the Premiership title, but his side has frailties as it goes to West Ham. In addition to Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Philippe Senderos will all be absent through injury.
Pires returns for the Champions League match at Ajax on Tuesday, but Robin van Persie is suspended. Reyes would therefore be the only established forward available to Wenger if Bergkamp does not get over back and hamstring problems.
Martin Jol has identified Aaron Lennon as the player to provide him with the width so absent from Tottenham's early-season performances. With Wayne Routledge suffering a fractured bone in his foot, Jol has been forced to use Jermaine Jenas on the right wing, an experiment that has yielded little return. "Aaron has the potential to be a big player," he said. "He's so pacy, the only thing he needs to improve is his service."
Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn is set to lead his team all the way to the Euro 2008 finals after signing a two-year extension to his contract. "It is a great sign that shows how much trust the football association has in me and the whole crew," Kuhn said yesterday.
The 61-year-old trainer helped steer Switzerland to their second European Championship finals in 2004 and has also steered his team to the top of their qualifying group for next year's World Cup finals - with two matches against France and the Republic of Ireland remaining.
Swiss FA officials said Kuhn's new contract would be honoured even if the team fails to make it to the World Cup in Germany and that no 'get-out' clauses were involved. The Swiss are already guaranteed a place at Euro 2008 as joint tournament hosts with Austria. "I'm hugely looking forward to continuing my work with the team," Kuhn said.
"How many (Swiss) coaches get to experience a tournament finals in their own country? That probably won't happen again for at least another 50 years."
Chelsea, criticised for making fans pay too much money to attend last week's Champions League game with Anderlecht, have apologised and say they will offer retrospective discounts worth £187,500. "Those 12,500 season-ticket holders who purchased for Anderlecht, and also buy for Real Betis and Liverpool, will receive a retrospective discount of £5 per ticket, £15 in total," said chief executive Peter Kenyon.
Chelsea, who defeated Anderlecht 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, play hosts to Champions League Group G rivals Betis on October 19th and Liverpool on December 6th. "We are still working out the logistics on the discount but it is likely to come off the cost of the Liverpool ticket," said Kenyon in a statement on the club's website.
Kenyon said that two discounted ticket policies that were in place for the previous campaign were inadvertently dropped by the Premier League champions this season. "On these two issues the board has to make a straightforward apology to our fans," he added. "These were overlooked in the recent overhaul of our ticketing policy."
"From the board's point of view we want to stress we recognise the sensitivities over ticket prices and know that our prices are at the higher end of the market."
