Thierry Henry has confirmed he will be sidelined for at least three months after picking up a serious groin muscle strain in Arsenal's Champions League exit to PSV Eindhoven last week.

However the Frenchman moved to dispel suggestions that his mitigated season with the Gunners will prompt him to look elsewhere and pledged his future to the club.

Arsenal were the beaten finalists in Europe's premier club competition last year, and this season, having lost all chance of winning the Premiership, also lost the League Cup final to Chelsea.

Those kind of setbacks can usually give top level players the spur to move on to a club which has a better chance of triumphing at home or abroad.

But Henry is adamant he is staying at the Emirates Stadium.

"For the umpteenth time - and I'm starting to get sick of saying the same thing every year - there is nothing, at least from my part, that will make me leave Arsenal.

"I love the club and will always give my all for Arsenal. This season I've played with only half of my capacities. But I will keep on fighting for the fans, for my teammates, and for Arsene (Wenger).

"I be at Arsenal till I finish my career, as long as they want me here."

Henry, speaking in yesterday's L'Equipe newspaper, admitted he was finding it hard coping with sitting around and not training or playing.

But he knows he will have to get used to the idea of resting at least until the end of the season before even thinking about kicking a ball again for either Arsenal or France.

"It's not easy. When you know that the season is more or less over, you give up," he said.

"It's not like I have three weeks on the sidelines before coming back to competition."

(China Daily via AFP March 14, 2007)