Adebayor has stepped into the shoes of Henry by scoring 19 Premier League goals this season, with Arsenal's record scorer providing motivation for the Togo striker with texts and phone calls.

Straight after sealing victory over Blackburn on Monday evening, Adebayor had a message from his mentor waiting on his phone, congratulating him on sending Arsene Wenger's men five points clear at the top of the table.

"Thierry to me is like a big brother," said Adebayor.

"He talked to me a lot during the summer when he was leaving, he calls me and we have a lot of chats.

"He believes in my strength and believes in my quality so I just want to thank him a lot because he helped me out a lot.

"A lot of times he sends me messages saying that I may have scored 15 or 16 but he knows I can score more if I keep concentrating in every game.

"That is what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to listen to the advice and at the moment it's working so I'm very happy."

Henry is thought to have kept in touch with others at Arsenal since leaving for Barcelona.

His number 14 shirt is not worn by any player in the squad, although his influence is still being felt, particularly by Adebayor.

It was four years this week that Arsenal won 2-0 to establish a five-point lead at the top of the table, with Henry's late strike taking his tally to 19 league goals.

Adebayor matched that tally with his goal at the death against Blackburn, with the game also finishing 2-0 and Arsenal going five points clear.

Adebayor, 23, believes the only important statistic is for the current team to carry on as 'The Invincibles' did in 2004 and win the title.

"If I win the Golden Boot and the team does not win anything, I cannot see me enjoying myself," he said.

"It's all about the fans, the family, the team. It's about the people who like us. The most important thing is to win the title."

Other reasons for optimism include the squad being bolstered by players returning to action.

Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alexandre Song are coming back from African Nations Cup duty, while Tomas Rosicky could play at the weekend against Manchester United in the FA Cup.

Robin van Persie is a few weeks away from returning and Manuel Almunia has been out with a stomach bug.

"Of course when we have all our players on the ground we can focus on the title race," Adebayor said.

"Anyway, we have done with them not here. Now they are back we need to push so we can do what we want to achieve."

Adebayor feels belief in the Arsenal ranks but, like his boss Wenger, insists the race for the title is far from over.

"Of course, as a team, no matter what happens, as long as you keep winning games, the dressing room is a little bit better and now keep enjoying yourself," Adebayor said.

"Then you are like a family. The team is very young. Of course the belief that we have in the dressing room is very big and we just want to keep that.

"The most important thing now is to keep our head on our shoulders and our feet on the ground and we hope to win the title.

"It's not going to be easy, it's going to be very tough because we have a lot of games coming.

"We go to Manchester United, we go to Chelsea and we are playing Liverpool at home. It's going to be an exciting league until the end of the season."