Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted that he has been amazed by the speed of Thierry Henry's transformation from a winger into a quality striking replacement for Nicolas Anelka.

Henry arrived at Highbury during the summer for a fee of about £10 million with question marks over his ability after failing to shine in Serie A. However, Wenger knew that in the absence of Anelka his side desperately needed pace up front.

And it is only now that he has conceded that Arsenal were only ever going to have a realistic chance of achieving success this season if the signing of Henry paid off.

However, Henry's strike against Leeds earlier this week was his sixth goal in eight games and the finish even bore the same unmistakeably confident air that Anelka had displayed. Starting with the challenge of Sheffield Wednesday today Henry now seems likely to keep his place in the Arsenal front-line for at least the rest of January.

Wenger declared: "Thierry has similar qualities to Anelka but he has improved a lot since his arrival in this position."

Bergkamp and Ray Parlour will definitely be missing against Wednesday, but Emmanuel Petit should have recovered from a variety of knocks received against Leeds and Martin Keown, Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon could be back after being rested.

Having defeated Leeds to trim the gap behind the leaders to five points, the key for Arsenal now is to start rediscovering the consistency which could re-ignite their championship hopes.

O'Leary eying renewal of 89 showdown - By Ian Parkes, PA Sport

Leeds manager David O'Leary would love to recreate the epic championship showdown of 1989 with a winner-take-all battle against Manchester United this season.

Almost 11 years ago O'Leary was part of an Arsenal side which was involved in arguably the most dramatic finale ever seen to a season.

Meanwhile, Leeds manager, David O'Leary knows, that with Manchester United partying in Rio, his team must take full advantage with a win over Aston Villa at Elland Road today.

Victory would leave Leeds four points clear - albeit Ferguson's side having two games in hand - but the pressure would be on United to play catch-up.

"It's important we do take advantage of them being in Brazil, because to me they are the best team," said O'Leary.

Sky's the limit for re-born reds - By Paul Walker, PA Sport

Liverpool march into the new Millennium believing Europe, the Champions League and - whisper it softly - even the title are all possible now.

Such has been the pace of the Gerard Houllier transformation that the European stars many believed would never gel into a real Liverpool side are already looking the part.

After drawing at Newcastle and beating Wimbledon at home, it is troubled Tottenham at White Hart Lane today and midfielder Patrik Berger underlined the confidence in the Liverpool camp.

The Czech Republic midfield star said: "We're doing very well at the moment.

"The holiday games are important for us. They'll show how good we are and where we can be at the end of the season."

After fifth-placed Liverpool have survived Christmas and New Year, plus the FA Cup fourth round, they will confront a February programme that will decide whether they are really up to it.

They play five of the current top seven in succession, Leeds, Arsenal, Leicester, Manchester United and Sunderland.

After that they have a run-in to the end of the season they would have picked themselves, given the chance.

It has just all come good for Houllier far faster than he believed possible.

Wimbledon have been warned to expect both a completely different Niall Quinn and a new Sunderland from the team they condemned to relegation three years ago for today's clash at Selhurst Park.

Quinn has been a revelation this season and has seen Sunderland defy the odds to reach fourth place on their return to the Premiership and hopes to pass a late fitness test on an ankle injury and play his part in the revenge mission.

West Ham face a striking crisis as they prepare for their first match of the new Millennium.

Both Paolo Di Canio and Paulo Wanchope are ruled out of the daunting trip to Newcastle as they each serve a one-match ban for collecting five yellow cards.

Paul Kitson is also struggling with a back injury and unlikely to recover in time.