THIERRY Henry scored 175 Premier League goals but it is one he didn’t register that lingers in the mind’s eye. It’s October 2005 at Highbury and Arsenal have already taken the lead against a workmanlike Manchester City via a Robert Pires penalty when the home team are awarded a second spot-kick by referee Mike Riley. We all know what happens next: Pires attempts to (completely legally) pass the ball to an onrushing Henry but can only comically brush the ball with his studs.
In the confusion that follows as Pires stands aghast yet able to understand that he can’t touch the ball a second time, City clear the ball. What is less frequently recalled about this moment is that when the two Arsenal players had practiced it in training it had been the other way around, with Henry passing to Pires. When the chance arose in a match situation, though, Henry’s thirst for goals and/or glory took over, with disastrous results. Even so, it would be hard to label Henry as a single-minded striker; he remains the only player in Premier League history to provide 20 assists in a single season (2002-03), and of forwards to score 100+ times, only Wayne Rooney (103) and Teddy Sheringham (76) have created more goals. For a period of four or five years as the new century dawned, Thierry Henry was arguably the most exciting, productive forward English football had ever witnessed.
Throwback to when Thierry Henry scored one of the Premier League's greatest ever goals pic.twitter.com/PY3B5D9gCs
— Goal (@goal) November 14, 2019
At some point in the next few weeks, Sergio Aguero will overtake Henry as the top scoring overseas player in Premier League history. He’s two goals shy of equalling him, as it stands, and faces Chelsea this weekend, a fixture in which he scored three times last season, a hat-trick that saw him equal Alan Shearer’s Premier League record. 2018-19 also saw the Manchester City man equal Henry’s record of scoring 20+ times in five successive seasons, and his minutes-per-goal rate of 107.4 is an aeon ahead of the next man, Harry Kane on 119.2. He’s also one of only five players to score five times in a single match. All the numbers say that Aguero is one of the Premier League’s all-time greats, and that goal against QPR in 2012 is the cherry on the cake.
Aguero goal v QPR to win the title. Would do anything to go back to that moment. Amazing scenes. pic.twitter.com/6iv4Jt2s8b
— Ash (@HAGUEY_92) May 28, 2019
Yet Aguero’s relative lack of recognition from the press, fans and fellow professionals is well documented. In eight full seasons in England, he has made the PFA Team of the Season just twice, both coming after his curious lack of inclusion became a meme. Henry, in contrast, was included for six years in succession and was the first person to be voted as PFA player of the year in successive years.
Imagine thinking Sergio Aguero isn't the best striker in #PremierLeague history#MCFC pic.twitter.com/ZmcrdWPmD2
— Unibet (@unibet) September 5, 2019
Aguero’s goal numbers are more varied than you might think. He’s scored 17 headed goals, which is pretty good for someone who is shorter than Taylor Swift, with the taller Henry scoring only six times from headers, and only once away from home. Henry’s lack of goals away from the tight and familiar confines of Highbury was always a stick to beat him with, with almost 70% of his strikes coming in home matches, as was the fact that his favourite opponents were Aston Villa, Charlton and Middlesbrough (12 goals against all three). Compare that to Aguero who has scored 11 in 15 against Tottenham, 10 in 13 against Chelsea, eight against both Arsenal and Manchester United and in all seven Premier League home games he has played against Liverpool (ok, yes, Anfield is an issue).
One of the reasons Aguero will struggle to supplant Henry reputationally even if he numerically overtakes him is the stylistic change to England’s top-flight in the past two decades. Yes, Arsenal remained unbeaten for the entirety of the 2003-04 season but Manchester City’s 100 point/106 goal campaign in 2017-18 is arguably as impressive. Think, though, of the difference in how those teams approached the game and it’s clear that it gives Henry a much greater chance of being the timeless hero.
Arsenal in their Wengerian pomp frequently came from behind against the odds, invariably led by their talismanic striker. Example: the home game with Liverpool in April 2004. The visitors led 2-1 at half-time but, led by Henry, Arsenal roared back in the second half to preserve their lossless existence. Aguero, understandably, is usually ‘just’ the stylish finishing touch to a merciless Manchester City machine. Only five of his 173 goals have come in 1-0 wins, and only two of those have been in the Pep Guardiola era. Aguero has played under three managers at City and graced the Premier League for much longer than most people expected him too when he joined in 2011. He deserves to be the top-scoring import in the league’s history, but Thierry Henry will remain the gold standard, for the time being at least.
