A goal 1,834 days in the making

That goal against Leeds had served to send expectation levels soaring. Thierry was used as a second-half sub in each of our next four matches, but didn’t find the net, as we returned a mixed bag of results. We lost 3-2 at Swansea, came back to beat Aston Villa 3-2 at home in the FA Cup fourth round, then drew 0-0 away to Bolton. We roared back to form at home to Blackburn, racking up a 7-1 victory in the league to stay in touch with the top four.

For a while, Thierry thought he had scored goal number 228 in that match. He came on as a sub in the second-half, with the score at 6-1, and in injury-time, he made it seven. After pouncing on a loose pass in the centre circle he raced forward, swapped passes with Robin van Persie, and beat Paul Robinson via the aid of a Scott Dann deflection. He was widely credited with the goal at the time, but this was well before the days of Fantasy Premier League, so ambiguous goals were not cleared up in real time.

In fact the Dubious Goals Committee would only meet a few times each season to decide on who goals should officially be awarded to. Indeed it wasn’t until May – fully three months later - that his goal was chalked off. Fairly harshly too, as his initial shot did seem to be on target, but it was officially recorded as an own goal instead.

So what is now goal 228 was, for a while, goal number 229. Either way, it was his final strike in an Arsenal shirt, with almost his very last touch as a Premier League player.

We travelled to the Stadium of Light to take on a resurgent Sunderland, unbeaten under new manager Martin O’Neill.

With the deadlock yet to be broken, Thierry was introduced on 66 minutes, replacing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

But within four minutes, James McClean put the hosts ahead. Aaron Ramsey levelled shortly afterwards, and it remained 1-1 as the game entered injury time.

Then came Thierry’s magic moment. There were 90 minutes and 22 seconds on the clock when he connected with Andrey Arshavin’s deep left-wing cross, turning the ball past Simon Mignolet from close range, just in front of the travelling Arsenal supporters.

Three points assured, and our all-time record goalscorer could return to New York knowing he had helped Arsenal back into the Champions League spots, which we would confirm on the final day of the season. In fact we finished just one point ahead of Tottenham – those two extra points at Sunderland turned out to be crucial, and also maintained his own personal record of never finishing beneath our north London rivals.

And so Thierry Henry’s last goal had arrived 12 and a half years after his first, and five years and a week (1,834 days) after his most recent Premier League strike.

His record-breaking haul came from 377 matches, against 58 different teams, and surpassed Ian Wright’s old record by 43.

The new target is now set. Every forward arriving at the club now knows that to become our all-time leading scorer, they need to register more than 228 times in an Arsenal shirt. Until that day comes, Henry remains the King.