Who is the best?

By Tom Fordyce

Is Thierry Henry a better striker than Ruud van Nistelrooy?

As Arsenal charge on towards a potential Treble, Henry continues to score goals at a rate (nine in his last 10 games) and of a quality (see last Sunday) that takes the breath away.

THIERRY HENRY Age: 26 Height: 6' 2" Weight: 13st 2lbs Cost: £10.5m Goals this season: 34

Up at Old Trafford, Van Nistelrooy is finding life somewhat harder. His last nine games have yielded just two goals.

Now his club strike partner, Louis Saha, has started to make unflattering comparisons between his club and international team-mates.

"Ruud has never played in major finals, and he needs to gain experience at the highest level," said Saha.

"He never scores from outside the 18-yard area and never takes free-kicks. It is very rare to see him trying his luck from distance.

"Ruud doesn't take much of a part in the team's collective play. His game is all about finishing."

Hardly the sort of praise one wants to hear from the man who plays alongside you, and exactly the sort of comment that highlights Henry's attributes - his ability to play wide, create chances for others and score from anywhere.

This season, Henry has scored 34 goals in 46 appearances for club and country. Van Nistelrooy has managed 29 from 45. Only one winner, surely?

Or not. Let's look at Saha's criticism first of all.

All fair points on the surface, except by his standards you would also have to say that Gary Lineker and Ian Rush weren't up to much as strikers either. And Michael Owen might have to raise his hand as well.

Ruud has much more experience at the highest level of club football. From Stu UTD Have your say on 606

Maybe Saha hadn't noticed that, prior to his arrival, Van Nistelrooy had been carrying out the sort of unselfish work up front that could have seen him win medals for selfless striking.

In the Champions League, Van Nistelrooy was reduced to playing as a target man on the halfway line, holding the ball up under extreme pressure as United struggled to get their passing game going.

He performed that role to a standard that would have made Mark Hughes proud. He also continued scoring goals, despite being shorn of his number one supply route (David Beckham) and playing without a regular partner.

RUUD VAN NISTELROOY Age: 27 Height: 6' 2" Weight: 12st 5lbs Cost: £19m Goals this season: 29

When Van Nistelrooy's goal-scoring record is compared with Henry's over their entire English club careers, the stats cast an interesting light.

Henry has scored 133 goals in 221 games for Arsenal, at a rate of 0.6 goals per game. Van Nistelrooy has 106 in 132 games for United, giving him a rate of 0.8.

Over his league career in France, Italy and England, Henry has scored 0.43 goals per game. Van Nistelrooy's record in Holland and England leaves him with 0.60 goals per game.

Sure, Henry was playing as a winger for most of his time at Juventus and Monaco. And scoring goals in Serie A is harder than in Holland.

But if we rightly praise his ability from free-kicks and with assists, we also have to raise the issue of his heading skills - or rather the relative absence of them.

Suddenly it's not so easy to choose between the two players, is it?

Let's try this question as a way of concentrating the mind: which of the two would you rather have in your team right now?

Complicated answer: you would rather have them both in the same side.

If Henry was playing for United, he would be scoring fewer goals. If Van Nistelrooy was in Arsenal's starting line-up, he would be banging in more.

Put them together - quit that day-dreaming, Roman - and you have a partnership with almost everything - the pace to slice through teams, strength on the ball to drive defenders insane, spectacular strikes from anywhere and predatory finishing.

And most of all, goals, goals, goals...