Although it looked perfect for Henry, Edu – who scored from a similar position in the FA Cup at Old Trafford last season – was given the honour and hit the net for the first time since then. Arsenal had already threatened with a dangerous cross by Sylvain Wiltord that Henry miskicked before, in the fifth minute, they scored. As he committed the cardinal sin of taking his eye off the ball, it bounced out of his arms, on to Henry’s knee and over the line.There was more to commend the first two goals, which gave a vibrant afternoon such a rocking start. When John Terry joined Marcel Desailly and William Gallas among the absentees, it was necessary to pair Mario Melchiot with the strapping German youngster Robert Huth.

They coped tolerably well with Henry’s pace, but Terry’s influence was still missed.If the midfield diamond, with Damien Duff restored at its apex in place of Joe Cole, functioned well for much of the time, the great disappointment was Adrian Mutu, the Romanian striker withdrawn as soon as the Tinkerman could resist tinkering no longer in the second half. This time United stole to the front of the three-horse race with their early victory at Elland Road, only to be undone, like Chelsea, by Thierry Henry’s comical winning goal, giving Arsenal the lead by a point.Understandably, they are a more cohesive unit than the west Londoners, who had nevertheless remained undefeated domestically by dint of individual quality. Ranieri candidly admittedly after the game: “We aren’t a team like Manchester or Arsenal That’s the little problem How long will it take? I don’t know. There is a first time for everything but not, it seems, for Chelsea to win a Premiership match at Highbury.

In a game high in quality and intensity they would happily have settled for a draw, leaving Manchester United as League leaders, but were undone by a ghastly howler from their goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini, 15 minutes from the end.
Claudio Ranieri’s team had begun the day on top of the table for the first time since January 1999, when Arsenal knocked them off it at the same venue with Dennis Bergkamp’s goal. Parity was preserved.For Wolves, the result is a platform for two early “relegation” scraps against Leicester and Middlesbrough. For Fulham, it is now the two Uniteds, Newcastle and Manchester Back, with relief, to being the underdog. At least in that role they have their day.Fulham 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0Attendance: 17,031.

The home side missed the aggression of Luis Boa Morte, absent with a tender hamstring.After the interval the pattern was the same Wolves’ drew on Fulham’s frustration. Camara was their outlet in attack but, although fast, could not finish.The desperation grew and Junichi Inamoto was booked for diving Suddenly the chances came First Oakes, showing admirable nerve, blocked Malbranque. Then Edwin van der Sar dived low to push away Camara’s volley and Saha headed across, instead of into goal. Now the same experts are saying that Chris can take them into Europe.”Coleman’s eyebrows would have been raised. “I think maybe one or two were getting carried away,” he said of the draw.

“It will remind us we are a hard-working team who are not good enough to have off-days.” The candour was refreshing, another indication why he will succeed.Fulham’s owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, again prowled the pitch pre-match, offering words of encouragement Some fuggin’ team talk His players began poorly. Four times he contrived to supply Louis Saha, all in vain, before finally drawing a save after the ball had cannoned to him Michael Oakes in the visitors’ goal parried smartly It was, in truth, powder-puff stuff. The weight of expectation dragged on 19-year-old Dean Leacock, who was constantly caught out by Camara.At the other end, and the other end of the age scale, Denis Irwin struggled to contain Malbranque. “They are there because they failed being on this side,” he said of the divide between manager and pundit He also drew inspiration. “Fulham are a club that have been ridiculed before a ball had been kicked. Indeed, he invited his opponents to pick up the psychological gauntlet, saying they had been “insulted” by the pundits and should “use a bit of wounded pride”.