Souness lauds Henry and Arsenal but aims for upset
Blackburn did the double over Arsenal last season, something no side had done since 1998, which has given Souness the belief they can win but he also fears that last season's results may have only served to fire up the Gunners.
Souness said: "They are the real deal. They have top, top players, collectively they are formidable and individually they have some of the best players in the world.
"There would be an argument that Thierry Henry is the best player in the world at the moment and I wouldn't disagree.
"I'm a big admirer of Arsenal, I love the way they play football them going forward is what football is all about and we will have to concentrate fully if we are going to get any result there.
"It is maybe the hardest place to get a result in the Premier League but it is not an impossible task, as we proved last year."
He added: "Last season counts for nothing that will only maybe fire them up even more. We took six points off them last year, and maybe ultimately cost them the championship, so perhaps they will dislike us even more for that.
"I believe on their day they are as good as there is in the world, not just our country. I watched them in the Champions League on Wednesday and if everything is right in their garden they could win that competition.
"They have such special players that if they all hit it off on Champions League nights they could win it."
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger reckons Henry is one of the few "complete great players" in the world due to his unselfishness in front of goal - but he is still unsure whether to strengthen his attacking options next month.
Wenger is set to have a transfer fund at his disposal, especially after his side's Champions League qualification, and he has already been linked with potential interest in Leeds striker Alan Smith.
"I don't think that Leeds will go into administration. But if they did, there would be a few sharks circling around over there," he admitted.
Wenger insisted that "domestically I don't think we could find what we need at the moment" but then conceded that he would "try and see if something interesting develops" in the overall situation.
He said: "If we get a player in, it's better that he can play in Europe rather than not. But I don't make an obligation out of signing someone."
Wenger stressed that he would not be allowing anyone, such as Wiltord - linked with Paris St Germain to leave his squad in the new year.
However, he will be without Kanu for a month due to the African Nations' Cup and while Jeremie Aliadiere is coming through the ranks, there is a huge goal-scoring onus on Henry's shoulders. Henry's fitness for tomorrow's game is a major boost.
"Since we've beaten Inter Milan 5-1, I felt that we've dropped points in the Premier League as our focus was a bit on the Champions League," admitted Wenger.
"Now we have two months where we can completely focus on the championship."





