Adebayor grateful to Henry

Arsenal striker pays tribute to Frenchman

By Lewis Rutledge   Last updated: 12th February 2008

Adebayor grateful to Henry

Adebayor: Thankful

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Emmanuel Adebayor has thanked Thierry Henry for the role he played in his development.

There were doubts before the season that Arsenal would be unable to fill the void left by Henry's departure to Barcelona, but Adebayor has managed to score 19 times in the Premier League alone.

The Togolose striker's magnificent form has been one of the main factors behind Arsenal's success this term and he found the target again in the 2-0 victory over Blackburn on Monday.

Adebayor feels he may have struggled to make so much of an impact had it not been for Henry's guidance, and has revealed that he is still in regular contact with the Frenchman.

He told the Evening Standard: "Thierry is like a big brother. A lot of times he is sending me a message saying things like, 'I know you have a lot of quality, you have scored 15 or 16 goals now and you can score more if you put more concentration in every game', so that is what I am trying to do, to listen to the elder players.

"He believes in me, in my strength of character and my quality. I want to thank him as he has helped me a lot.

"We are in touch always. He talked to me during the summer when he was leaving. We have a lot in common and get on well."

The Gunners moved five points clear with the win against Blackburn and Adebayor was delighted with the result, but he accepts that there is still a long way to go in the title race.

Not finished yet

He said: "We knew last night would be very difficult. You cannot say we played the best football but we took the three points and we are extremely happy about that.

"Of course we are feeling closer to the title. Kolo [Toure] is coming back, [Emmanuel] Eboue is coming back and [Alexandre] Song will be back in two or three days.

"We have done well while they have been at the African Nations Cup and want to push even more when they get back.

"The title is not finished yet. You know Manchester United can come from behind but we just have to keep our focus and see whether we win the title.

"We have a lot of big games coming up. We go to Manchester, we go to Chelsea, we play at Liverpool as well so it is going to be exciting.

"The belief is there but the most important thing is to keep our feet on the ground. It is not going to be easy."