ASK ANYONE on the inside at Arsenal to talk about Nicklas Bendtner’s best qualities and their features invariably soften.

“Nick is a special guy,” said goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, with a smile, yesterday.

“You cannot fault him on confidence,” added Arsene Wenger.

Bendtner has what all of the world’s leading strikers are supposed to have – that streak of arrogance. Actually, he has it by the bucket-load. In short, he is a cocky so-and-so. Yet, his is a likeable brand of self-assurance.

The Dane is a popular member of the dressingroom and the days when he came across as an outsider, during his well-publicised difficulties with Emmanuel Adebayor, who has since departed for Manchester City, seem distant. Bendtner is not afraid to reach for the stars and tell you how he is going to touch them, and tonight’s occasion at the Emirates Stadium – a delicately poised last-16 decider, with Porto 2-1 up from the first leg – is the sort he lives for.

Only once have Arsenal overturned a first-leg away deficit in European competition, and that was back in 1978-79.

“There is always something new in our games and we have a good opportunity to change history,” noted Wenger.

Bendtner is ready. Yet he enters the tie with his starting place insecure – Wenger said he must also consider the claims of Eduardo da Silva after Bendtner’s nightmarish performance during the 3-1 victory against Burnley on Saturday, in which the Emirates crowd were pushed to the limits of their patience by his profligacy in front of goal when to score would have put the game beyond their opponents.

The 22-year-old’s team-mate, Andrey Arshavin, joked that he was saving up his goals for Porto, and it is to be hoped that if similar chances present themselves, especially from point-blank range, Bendtner can stick them away.

It has been a frustrating season for the forward, in which he was sidelined for three months from the beginning of November following groin surgery, and he has scored only five times for Arsenal in 21 appearances, 13 of them starts.

His lofty pre-season targets, which were encouraged in part by Adebayor’s sale and his step up the pecking order, have had to be revised. He has also been the butt of jokes, particularly after Saturday. Does his shirt number correspond to the number of chances he needs to score?

Porto promises to represent a psychological test, as much as anything else, but Bendtner believes he retains the support of the Arsenal crowd and that he will not shirk from demanding the ball or getting into scoring positions.

In his line of work, it certainly pays to have a thick skin.

“I just love to play a game like this with a lot at stake,” he said. “Then, it is the most fun. It is quite simple. We need to beat them to advance and, I believe, we will.

“I don’t feel any real criticism right now. Yes, I missed some great chances in one match, but, before that, I scored in three matches in a row. I feel that the Arsenal fans really got behind me and supported me because I gave everything I had.

“I was just not lucky with my finishes, but, sometimes, it is like that.”

Bendtner was afforded a standing ovation when he was substituted on 74 minutes against Brian Laws’ side which, in some quarters, was interpreted as being sarcastic.

It was nothing of the sort.

“The crowd was at a certain point wobbling a bit on Saturday, but then they turned for Bendtner and that’s good,” Wenger said.

“If they turned against him, for a striker, that causes a problem. It’s true that when you are 194cm (6ft 4in) like he is, you cannot be sharp like a smaller player. But he will be a good player.”

Wenger admitted he had spoken in private with Bendtner about Saturday’s events in order to ensure that the Danish international drew strength from them.

The player, though, knows of nothing that can derail him.

His thoughts now are fixed purely on scoring the winning goal against Porto and becoming Arsenal’s latest cult hero.

Guardian Service