After being accused of a post-match tunnel bust up with Lauren, it was only right that Thierry Henry came out and rubbished the talk.
Stories in the newspapers suggested that Henry and Lauren had to be separated by their team mates; such was the extent of the fight. This was not the case and Thierry suggested this was an underhand tactic employed by Man Utd to undermine our team spirit.
“If they have to resort to that kind of tactic, then that is really, really poor,” Henry told the Mirror.
“By all means try to affect us on the pitch but not in a way like this.”
“They couldn’t hurt us on the pitch any more so they tried to spread rumours about us but nothing will change the atmosphere we have built ay Highbury.”
“I don’t respect people who spread this kind of rumour. I don’t respect them as players and now I don’t respect them as men.”
“We cannot be affected by this, In fact, it will only make us more strong, It will give us extra incentive for the match on Saturday.”
“You will see that if you watch me.”
“When the match finished, I was angry with him (Lauren) because he had not passed the ball to me when we had a good chance to win the match.”
“He was trying to explain to me that he had not seen me but I just told him we should discuss it in the dressing room.”
“There were no punches in the tunnel. We were shouting quite loudly but I did not hit him and he did not hit me.”
“That would never happen in this Arsenal team. We are too strong and too together for that.
“After we had finished our argument we shook hands and Lauren wished me all the best for the national team and that was it.”