‘That Might Be an Issue’—Thierry Henry Highlights Major Arsenal Weakness Masked by Biggest Strength

The Gunners were forced to grind out a win in Lisbon this week.

Everyone knows what Arsenal are good at. | PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has highlighted the current team’s lack of creativity as a potential problem that could prevent them going all the way in the Champions League this season.

The Gunners have already put in the hard yards in the Premier League, with a first title in 22 years within reach, as long as there is no late collapse. But Mikel Arteta’s team is also trying to make history by claiming a maiden Champions League title.

Arsenal are unbeaten in European competition this season and make it difficult for any opponent facing them. They hold a narrow 1–0 aggregate lead over Sporting CP after the first leg of the quarterfinal this week, but it was a gritty, attritional kind of performance.

On another night, without the heroics of David Raya, Sporting might have had a comfortable advantage to take into the second leg. Henry’s point is that Arsenal aren’t offering much more than a strong defense. If that weakness is left exposed, they could be done for.

“If the defense doesn’t work, I don’t think [Arsenal] are creating enough at times to be able to hurt teams and that might be an issue,” the Frenchman said on CBS Sports.

“There wasn’t much in the [Sporting] game or a lot of creativity but they did what they had to do. They won away from home, let’s see what happens at the Emirates.

“We know their biggest strength already. They are strong as a team and very solid. For me they are the most solid team in the Champions League. We also know about the set-pieces—people cry about that, but it’s a part of the game and a big advantage for Arsenal because they’re pretty good at it.”

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Arsenal’s Champions League Dream

Arsenal hold the advantage at the halfway stage of the quarterfinal, a goal ahead on aggregate and with a home crowd in the second leg. If they avoid falling to a Sporting comeback next week, a semifinal against Barcelona or Atlético Madrid awaits.

The Gunners were knocked out at the semifinal stage last season by Paris Saint-Germain. Manchester United eliminated them from the final four in 2008–09, with Arsenal’s only other semifinal appearance in this competition a 1–0 victory over Villarreal in 2005–06.

Arsenal got to the semifinals last season but lost to PSG. | Lionel Hahn/Getty Images

Arsenal are hoping to become the seventh different English team to win the European Cup/Champions League. Manchester City are the most recent entry to the list of victors, claiming a maiden title as recently as 2022–23.

No other nation has more than three different European Cup-winning clubs, with Italy (AC Milan, Inter, Juventus), Germany (Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund) and Netherlands (Feyenoord, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven) next on the list. Spain is the country with the most continental titles overall—20—but split only between Real Madrid (15) and Barcelona (5).

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