This Week in Football History: Henry destroys Liverpool to maintain the invincible dream.

Adrian North
03 April 2015

Thierry Henry salutes the Highbury crowd after his magnificent hat-trick.

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Today Adrian North previews tomorrow's clash between Arsenal and Liverpool by looking back at a classic encounter between the two sides from Arsenal's invincible season of 2003/04...

Remember those times in the playground or at the park when your mate who played for the local youth side would get pissed off and just run past everyone and score? Well that was Henry against Liverpool.

April 9, 2004 - Arsenal 4-2 Liverpool, Highbury.

Last February I convinced my Arsenal supporting roommate to wake up at 5:45am to watch Liverpool and Arsenal's clash at Anfield. By 6 o'clock Liverpool were 4-0 up and his face was one of utterly beautiful agony and disappointment. Tomorrow, we will both wake up at the same time and enjoy what will be undoubtedly a much closer affair than the one 14 months ago.

As a Liverpool fan our games against Man United are the most nervous and fired up I'll be all year. Followed by Liverpool's games against Everton and Chelsea. But the most excited I'll be is always the night before a game with Arsenal. Because Liverpool v Arsenal is almost always one of the most entertaining games of the season.

Indeed, out of all of the Premier League's 8,779 games that have been played, Arsenal v Liverpool has perhaps been the most consistently dramatic and entertaining of the lot, maybe only rivaled by Arsenal v Man Utd.

Fowler's four minute hat-trick in 94, Liverpool surprisingly destroying the Gunners during their first title campaign, a brilliant 2-2 draw from 2003, Arsenal coming from behind at Anfield later that year, Neil Mellor's incredible 90th minute volley, Crouch's perfect hat-trick, Arshavin ruining Liverpool's title dream, Van Persie's over-the-shoulder volley, the 5-1 and the 2-2 from earlier this season.

Cup competitions between the two have thrown up a few cracking games too - The Michael Owen final, Arsenal's revenge a year later on the way to the double, the 6-3 League Cup cracker and the thrilling 2008 Champions League quarter-final.

The most famous meeting between the two sides was of course from May 1989, but that's a story for another day. The second most famous encounter came on April 9, 2004, at the tail end of Arsenal's incredible 2003/04 season.

In hindsight this game is looked upon as the greatest test to Arsenal's invincible season since the Battle of Old Trafford back in September 2003. It was the moment that the Gunners broke through the looking glass and emphatically stated 'we will not lose this season'.

At the time however there was only one headline for Monday's newspapers and conversations throughout work, schools and pubs the next day were reserved for one man - Thierry Henry. Any talk of invincibles or championship winners was put to the back of the mind as everyone collectively drooled over the genius of the Frenchman.

Arsenal fans naturally have a myriad of memories when it comes to Henry. Fans of every other Premier League club generally have one dominating memory of him, memories that almost always involve Henry humiliating their team.

Chelsea fans probably remember this embarrassment of Carlo Cudicini. Charlton fans will remember the back-heel. City fans have tried to forget this rocket. Spurs fans' still get rather angry when you show them this goal. And for Man United fans there is of course his most famous goal.

For me, and every other Liverpool fan I know, our prevailing memory of Henry is this hat-trick. At half-time I saw this game as the ending of Arsenal's unbeaten dream. Having been dumped out of the FA Cup and Champions League in the past week Arsenal's date with footballing immortality was supposed to be crushed by Liverpool.

And then Henry ran from the half-way line and slotted past Dudek.

Remember those times in the playground or at the park when your mate who played for the local youth side would get pissed off and just run past everyone and score? Well that was Henry against Liverpool.

Henry would score his hat-trick half an hour later and the performances of Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires must also not be forgotten, but it was the Frenchman who took the headlines and the match ball. He then scored four against Leeds the next week just for the fun of it.

And if tomorrow's game is half as exciting as this we'll all be in for quite a treat.