Charlton 1 Arsenal 1
A superbly struck free kick from Thierry Henry sent Arsenal back to the top of the Premiership today after drawing with Charlton Athletic at The Valley.
Arsenal, who have 24 points, are one point ahead of Chelsea (23) with Manchester United, surprisingly beaten 3-1 at home by Fulham yesterday, in third with 22.
Paolo Di Canio, with his first league goal for Charlton since joining on a one-year-deal in August, put the home side ahead with a penalty on 27 minutes after Lauren had tripped Ireland's Matt Holland in the area.
Henry had gone agonisingly close to an equaliser minutes later when he cut in from the right and unleashed a curling left-foot strike that beat goalkeeper Dean Kiely but crashed against the left upright.
The Frenchman made no mistake six minutes before the break, though, when Scott Parker fouled Ray Parlour five metres outside the penalty area. Henry curled the free kick around the wall and into the top right-hand corner of Kiely's goal.