Emmanuel Adebayor has claimed he is loving the extra responsibility he now has at Arsenal and is happy that the rest of the first-team squad now look up to him.

The striker scored a wonder-goal in the 1-1 draw in the quarter-final first leg against Villarreal last week.

The result has put the Gunners in the driving seat ahead of tomorrow night's second leg between the two teams at Emirates Stadium.

His effort, a spectacular scissors-kick, was reminiscent of Thierry Henry at his best and Adebayor believes he learnt a lot from the former Arsenal forward, who is now at Barcelona.

The Togo international said: “I was very happy to have played alongside Thierry for this club for a couple of years. I was so pleased to have done that because he made me learn so much during my career in football.

“He always told me what to do and I am very happy for all the things that are happening to him at Barcelona.”

But Adebayor believes he has finally emerged from Henry's shadow and has earned the respect of his fellow Arsenal players.

He added: “I now have the chance to be the main striker at Arsenal and have all the young players looking up to me. I am trying to make them happy and giving 100 per cent in games.

“I'm very pleased because you can see people saying: you're my idol'. I'm very happy because five, six years ago I was saying he was my idol'.

“I'm very pleased but I'm still young, still learning and I have to keep improving and enjoying my football.”

But Marcos Senna claimed today that the striker has a long way to go before being considered in the same class as Henry.

The Villarreal captain, whose fine strike had given the Spaniards an early lead, claims he was disappointed with Adebayor's display.

“He didn't impress me,” said Senna, 32, who will be unavailable at Emirates Stadium after picking up a hamstring injury at the weekend.

“At my age, and with everything I have seen in football, it is difficult to find a player who impresses me. Adebayor is a good player but you cannot say he is a superstar yet.”

Arsene Wenger is confident that his youngsters have a burning desire to end the club's trophy drought this season and will overcome Villarreal.

While following Wenger's policy of investing in youth the Gunners have not won any silverware since lifting the FA Cup in 2005.

They have an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea this weekend after tomorrow's second leg and Wenger insists his young guns deserve to be applauded for their development.

He said: “Of course you see that burning desire to win a trophy. These boys are winners. I believe in general this team has not got the credit they deserve because the focus my players have shown since the beginning of the season is fantastic.

“The hunger they have shown every single day in training is great. They have improved a lot and there is still a lot more to come. They are aged 21 and 22 and when you are this age, you can only go upwards.”

The Frenchman also rejected claims that a lack of silverware was proof the club's youth-oriented philosophy would never produce the desired results.

After a run of five defeats in 14 matches Arsenal are unbeaten in the last 18 Premier League games and he added: “We have gone for a policy of youth at the club. But I am in a public job and when the results are not there people are entitled not to be happy.

“We have to accept that. The most important thing is that the club has this policy and is convinced of it and goes for it in a strongly determined way. I believe the club is in a positive situation financially, structure wise and player-wise, and we have to be positive.”

Adebayor agrees and feels that it is time for the Gunners to start proving they can fulfill their potential to win trophies.

He said: “As a player you always dream about playing in big games. In one week we are going to play all the big games. You have to take the positive out of the games and enjoy it. When I was at Monaco I was dreaming about playing against Chelsea, playing against Manchester United and playing in the quarter-final of the Champions League.

“I now have the chance to play in all these games so I just have to concentrate and I think my team-mates will do the same thing.”

Wenger's injury problems ­— Manuel Almunia, William Gallas, Johan Djourou and Gael Clichy will be missing tomorrow — mean that Denilson is a near certainty to start tomorrow night after becoming an integral part of his manager's plans.
His importance is underlined by his status as the only member of the squad to have started all 11 of the Gunners' outings in Europe and feature in all but one of their 32 Premier League games this season.

It is quite a staggering rise given the 21-year-old started only four European matches in the previous two seasons.

Wenger said: “Denilson has done very well and I think nobody gives him a lot of credit. But if you look at the stats of the season, he is one of the best players in the Premier League. He is maybe not a flashy player but an efficient player.”