HAVE Arsenal missed the mercurial talents of Thierry Henry during his four-game absence through injury? Not really.

Since Henry limped out of the Gunners' 2-1 defeat at Fulham last month Arsene Wenger's side have remained unbeaten and lie third in the Premier League prior to fourth-placed Portsmouth's visit to the Emirates Stadium this afternoon.

Henry has missed the Gunners' last four matches with a hamstring injury and is likely to be absent from the club's next five fixtures, including today's visit of Pompey, before returning for the home clash with strugglers Charlton on January 2.

During the striker's spell on the sidelines Arsenal have enjoyed a 3-0 home triumph in the north London derby with Tottenham, gained two hard-fought draws at FC Porto in the Champions League and Chelsea in the Premiership, where they deserved to win, before claiming a confident 1-0 victory at the JJB Stadium against an improved Wigan team.

There is no doubt any side would miss the outstanding talents of arguably the world's greatest centre forward, yet Wenger has proved once again there is life without one of the club's biggest stars.

The Arsenal manager has seen the exceptional talents of Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Nicolas Anelka and Patrick Vieira, to name just a few, all leave the north London club in the past yet the club has still flourished and evolved in their absence.

Wenger replaced Anelka with Henry, Overmars with Robert Pires, Petit with Gilberto Silva and Vieira with the exciting Cesc Fabregas.

The 50-year-old manager could dig at a dusty coalface and still discover gold. And in Henry's absence Wenger has unearthed another sparkling gem in Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Togo striker netted the Gunners' winner against Paul Jewell's side on Wednesday evening and has helped himself to five Premier League goals this season, two more than Chelsea's £30m forward Andrei Shevchenko from the same amount of games.

Wenger's side are currently going through a transitional period and it will take time for his fledgling side to gel, yet for all their inconsistency the Gunners are on the coat tails of their more settled and consistent rivals Chelsea and Manchester United in third place.

Arsenal will not take the Premier League crown this term, or the year after, but you would not rule them out of making a genuine challenge the season after - with or without Henry.