ARSENAL convincingly won the first north London derby at the Emirates Stadium yesterday even without injured skipper Thierry Henry. Gilberto, standing in as captain, scored in each half from the penalty spot after Emmanuel Adebayor, leading the attack in the Henry's absence, opened the scoring.

Adebayor ran straight to the dug-out after breaking the deadlock and celebrated with Henry, who earlier in the day denied a rift with boss Arsene Wenger after a neck injury prevented him from playing, and could threaten his involvement in next Sunday's Premiership clash away to champions Chelsea. The Arsenal captain will also miss next Wednesday's vital Champions League clash away to Porto due to suspension.

Henry was in the tunnel prior to kick-off, offering words of encouragement to his team-mates . Even without their talisman, Arsenal looked purposeful early on and had a tame penalty appeal turned down by referee Graham Poll when Freddie Ljungberg went over in the area following a Michael Dawson tackle.

The hosts thought they should have had a free-kick on the edge of the area in the eighth minute when Ledley King chased Robin van Persie when through on goal. Spurs fashioned their first chance in the 11th minute when Steed Malbranque sliced wide, while Dimitar Berbatov was harshly ruled offside three minutes later. But the hosts were ahead in the 20th minute when Kolo Toure surged forward and played the ball over the top and Adebayor was played onside by Pascal Chimbonda.

The Togo striker calmly slotted past Paul Robinson then ran over to the bench and embraced Henry.

Ljungberg had the chance to double the lead two minutes later but volleyed over from a tight angle, while Didier Zokora needed to make a timely challenge on Cesc Fabregas from a similar position.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto was yellow-carded just after the halfhour mark for a trip on Ljungberg, with Van Persie curling the set-piece just wide.

Adebayor fired a weak shot at Robinson and was penalised for a foul on King five minutes before the break when it appeared the centre-back had merely lost his footing.

Arsenal were 2-0 ahead from Gilberto's penalty after Chimbonda was adjudged to have been brought down by Tomas Rosicky in the 41st minute, although the French full-back appeared to get the slightest touches on the ball with his tackle.

Spurs brought on Jermaine Jenas for Malbranque at the break, while Assou-Ekotto was replaced by Lee YoungPyo. The Gunners remained the most likely to add to the scoring, Rosicky finding space at the far post only for Emmanuel Eboue to overhit his cross from the right.

Rosicky, however, suffered an injury in the 55th minute and was replaced by Alexander Hleb, with goalkeeper Jens Lehmann fumbling a cross from Lee when his side were down to 10 men. Chimbonda angered Ljungberg by tapping the midfielder's boots after a challenge, with the intensity of the derby maintained despite Arsenal's dominance.

Jenas forced a hurried save from Lehmann with a swerving shot and Aaron Lennon's follow-up effort was blocked by Toure. But Gilberto extended the lead, this time sending Robinson the wrong way with a spot-kick, after Jenas hauled down Van Persie in the area with 20 minutes remaining, with the Spurs midfielder booked.

And Arsenal's stand-in captain believes the derby win will give his side confidence ahead of a tough week. "It is very special for us. We knew today was a question of the result, no matter how, " Gilberto said. "I was very confident because I have been taking penalties in training. "[The win] means a lot for us, we have important games ahead but when we win a tough match like this it gives us a lot of confidence."

Adebayor explained his goal celebration after the game, saying, "I was very hungry to play today, they had confidence in me and I'm proud to score, " he said. "Thierry asked me to score for him. We are very happy with the win."

Wenger described Henry's neck injury as a "short-term" problem. But Wenger would not be drawn on whether or not Henry would be back in action for the Gunners before Christmas, saying: "I don't know. We have to sit down together and see what's happening."

Wenger also revealed that Rosicky would definitely miss the midweek Champions League clash after being injured early in the second half, but was delighted that his side has recovered from back-to-back defeats against Bolton and Fulham. "We needed a lift ahead of the Porto game and we showed good character, determination and organisation. We were under a lot of mental pressure but we had a good team response."