After Arsenal put five past the Portuguese champions Benfica and three past Man City this weekend, including a stunner from Olivier Giroud, Arsene Wenger will have a much easier job convincing the Arsenal fans that he knows what he is doing in the striker department. In an interview on Arsenal.com, the Frenchman talked about the two young Gunners that got the goals against Benfica and revealed exactly why Arsenal do not need another forward.
His declaration not long ago that he was not looking to sign a striker, after completing the transfer of Alexis Sanchez, had some Arsenal fans worried, because apart from Yaya Sanogo, there did not seem to be much cover for Olivier Giroud at centre forward and that cost the Gunners dearly last season.
But now that the young French striker has found his scoring boots in stunning style, with four against Benfica, those concerns do not seem as critical, and with the boss also stating that Joel Campbell would definitely not be going out on loan, our front line starts to look pretty good.
Wenger said of Sanogo, “Sanogo was injured for basically two years before he came to us. If you look at his goal scoring record before he got injured, it is quite frightening.
“For a while when he came back last season, he could not score. You could see when he scored the first goal, suddenly they came raining. I especially liked the third goal he scored, it was really the goal of a striker of quality.
“He has a big future here, or course, he is 21. He has something of Adebayor. He is strong, a strong body, similar strengths [to Adebayor], but as well technical skill.”
And he continued, “Campbell has done very well. I like the way he plays, he’s good on the ball, creative and collectively as well he has a good balance between individual skill and collective attitude – that’s not easy to find.”
The manager has also spoken about Sanchez and revealed that he will have no hesitation in playing the Chilean down the middle as well as on either flank, so with Walcott and Podolski also possible options, is Wenger right to say that Arsenal do not need another striker?
(This is a guest article from TheArsenalBlog.com)