Burned-out Nigel hoping for final Highbury flourish

BODY willing, a badly bruised thigh in particular, former Gunner Nigel Winterburn will be making his final Highbury appearance tomorrow when West Ham play Arsenal.

“If fit and selected, this will be my last match at Highbury,” Winterburn confirmed. “I said a couple of weeks ago that I would push myself to the limit and see where it went and I’ve done that. I’m at my limit and I have decided that, to even contemplate another year in the Premiership is asking too much.

“I’ve always said I would be the first to know. You get a feeling about things and I know now that I can’t work any harder, can’t give any more. Hopefully, most of the time my performance is good enough but sometimes it isn’t and that’s when the frustration sets in, when you know you’re not doing well and there’s nothing you can do about it.

“Hopefully I will be okay for Sunday. The thigh is a problem at the moment, but I’ve a few days yet. It would be nice to play at Highbury one final time.”

It is 19 years since Winterburn made his professional debut for Wimbledon and 15 since he moved over the Thames to Arsenal. In his time at Highbury the defender patrolled the left flank 589 times, starting in 578 of those appearances and winning a trophy in all but three of his 13 season with the club.

“Obviously, my time at Arsenal was special but I can’t pick out any one memory of matches at Highbury. My incentive while I was at Arsenal was always to make sure I fought off whoever came in to take my place.

“I had a marvellous time there but I have never ever regretted the decision to leave when I did. It has probably added three years to my career and at a good club.”

Winterburn conceded, however, that this current Arsenal team have taken standards to a new level.

“When we won the titles in 1989 and 1991, we weren’t the best team in the league but we had the most desire, the best organisation,” he said. “In 1998 we were a more attractive football team but Arsene Wenger has taken the present side to new heights.

“There is no right or wrong way to play football, you do whatever works, but anyone who appreciates the game would want to watch them.”

Winterburn has been warmly received at Highbury on the couple of occasions since he crossed London once again in the summer of 2000, this time from north to east.

“The reception I received the second time was even better than the first,” he said. “It’s something I will look forward to again this weekend if I recover in time, but really it’s about what we can do when we go there. We desperately need some points.”

Easier said than done as West Ham, struggling to climb above the foot of the table, attempt to stop an Arsenal side leading the Premiership and spearheaded by the remarkable Thierry Henry.

Arsenal are gunning for an eighth successive home league win over West Ham, while the Hammers are keen to improve on their performance at the Upton Park meeting when they were fortunate to get away with a 2-2 draw. Indeed by denying them victory, the Hammers brought an end to Arsenal’s Premier League record of 14 successive wins.

But that has been forgotten as far as Winterburn is concerned. He’s more worried about how to stifle the va-va-voom of Monsieur Henry.

“It’s difficult,” Winterburn said. “He’s such a hard player to mark. When Thierry first came he played more as a winger but he has changed roles since. He still drifts out to the left but the big difference is his finishing. It’s just getting better and better.

“If you let him run at you, then that’s often a bad mistake. My approach would be to try and attack them, to put them on the back foot. With the calibre of players they have, they will still cut you open but, on a given day, things can go your way.”

Winterburn admitted West Ham had a difficult job ahead of them if they are to remain in the top flight.

“We’ve only lost one in our last seven Premiership matches,” he said. “But we’ve had too many draws. Last season we were winning those games.

“We have played well enough to have won more and the important thing is that we all have the belief that we will get out of this.”

“It is getting closer for me to retire, especially in the Premier League; I feel I have given it everything I can and I want to for the last 16 games whether I am involved or not.

“We are in a terrible position and we are going to a team that is top of the league and going great guns - so we need to be 100%, and if I am not fully fit I won’t put myself forward.

That is no less than his manager, Glenn Roeder expects. “Nigel is old school, he sorts himself out most of the time,!” the Hammers boss said. “He’s as tough as a piece of English oak and if every player was like him, my job would be much easier.”

“He never moans, never whinges. Nigel wouldn’t say this, he would never talk out of school, but I suspect the attitude of some players in the modern game would disappoint him.

“He’s a great role model for the younger players here and if just one of them notices how Nigel conducts himself, then he will have learned an invaluable lesson.”