Andrew Fifield On The Premiership: Any Arsenal fans grasping groggily for the aspirin this morning should head back to bed. As hangover cures go, the imminent return of Thierry Henry, who may play in tonight's Premiership clash with Charlton at the Emirates Stadium after four wearying weeks on the sidelines, is without equal.

It is often said that no one player is bigger than the club who employs him, but Henry might just be the exception. He is Arsenal's most talented, most marketable, most outspoken and most highly-paid player, a man whose dogged determination to marry aesthetic idealism with the cold-blooded business of winning is matched only by his manager, Arsene Wenger.

And yet, for the first time since he arrived at the club as a disenchanted winger in 1999, Henry's status as Wenger's Untouchable is under threat. While he remains irreplaceable, recent events have given the lie to the theory he is indispensable.

Odd though it may seem, given Arsenal pulled off the remarkable feat of making a Sheffield United midfielder look unbeatable in goal during a dismal 1-0 defeat on Saturday, the north Londoners have played their best football this season when their talisman has been in absentia.

Henry's struggles with sciatica have given Wenger a window into the future, and the prospects are stunning. The talents and maturity of Francesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Eboue, Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure have been obvious for some time now, but it is the development of Arsenal's 'B' list which will give Wenger most pleasure.

Robin van Persie, in particular, has matured at an astonishing rate and comparisons with Dennis Begkamp appear to be rooted in more than just wishful thinking. His penchant for the spectacular now prompts more than the odd gasp from the crowd: without his goals Arsenal would be seven points worse off and cast adrift among the flotsam and jetsam.

The same is true of Gilberto. The Brazilian has enjoyed his most prolific season in an Arsenal shirt but, more than that, he has proved himself the team's natural leader. His breathless performance against Watford on St Stephen's Day - where he made decisive contributions at both ends of the pitch - was reminiscent of Patrick Vieira in his all-action pomp, and there is no greater compliment than that.

The 30-year-old is refreshingly unassuming, but he sets a tireless example and Wenger has suggested that his quiet demeanour hides a raucousness which makes him a dressingroom favourite.

Now compare him to Henry. The latter is a supreme artist blessed with that rarest of gifts, the ability to transform a match with a casual flick of one of those preternaturally long legs, but captaincy does not become him.

It is not that he is alien to the team ethic and neither is his oft-trumpeted passion for Arsenal feigned. But geniuses are rarely easy company. Henry is a notoriously demanding team-mate and while his point-blank refusal to accommodate those who do not live up to his inflated standards might have enabled his own career to flourish, they are not traits usually associated with an armband.

One player who has felt the lash of Henry's tongue more than most is Emmanuel Adebayor. In a humdrum league game against Charlton last March, the forward sparked a volcanic reaction from his skipper - all flailing arms and bellowed obscenities - by opting to shoot from a tight angle rather than pass.

If Adebayor's indiscretion had come at a pivotal moment in a delicately-poised match, such irritation would be understandable, but Arsenal were already three goals up. Henry's very public display of irritation with a colleague still adjusting to the rigours of English football merely suggested it was he, rather than Adebayor, who should have been issuing the apology.

But times have changed, and now it is Adebayor who leads Arsenal's attack. He has blossomed into a forward of exceptional strength, pace and movement and he has developed a priceless habit - shared, it should be said, by Henry - of delivering at crucial times. Three of his seven goals this season have been winners and Arsenal's tame defeat at Bramall Lane can be attributed to Adebayor's absence through injury, as much as Henry's.

It is surely no coincidence that the 22-year-old's transformation from misfit to maestro has taken place with Arsenal's number 14 watching ruefully from the stands. Before Henry was injured, Adebayor appeared to visibly shrink in his presence, utterly undermined by the Parisian's star-spangled reputation. Now that the Togoese has proved his talents on his own terms, he should discard the inferiority complex. An emboldened approach would not be the only change Henry notices in a side that has flourished, not withered, in his absence.