After scoring the only goal of the game to give Arsenal a much needed win away to West Brom in the Premier League, Danny Welbeck was asked about whether he would be happy playing on the left side of a front three, as he used to do for his former club Manchester United.
And although he didn’t say he would not be happy there, he stated once more that he sees himself as a centre forward and through the middle is where he wants to play. But with Olivier Giroud back from his tibia injury, that gives Arsene Wenger a problem, so how does the boss keep both his central strikers happy and do the best thing for the team?
Well for one thing, it does give Wenger the option to rest one of the other from time to time, which is very handy with all the games we play in a season. But the game on Saturday also showed that Welbeck would not be restricted to the left if Giroud plays through the middle.
It was a very flexible front three, with Alexis and Welbeck swapping sides regularly as well as coming into the middle and linking up with the big Frenchman. That was clearly the case as Welbeck got his goal from six yards out when Cazorla broke down the left to cross.
So it is not as if Welbeck was constrained and after all, a striker thrives on goals, as he told Arsenal Player, and if he keeps scoring, I don’t think he will care too much where he starts on the pitch. At the minute, it is more important for him to start, because that was the problem at United. Maybe if Welbeck keeps bagging goals and gaining confidence, he may start to push more for that central role.
He said, “I’ve had a couple blocked off the line [in recent games] and it just wasn’t going my way, but I’ve got the goal and I’m just looking forward to scoring more and helping the team to win games.
“It gives the manager a good headache and he’s got a lot of options going forward. Going into the games, everybody’s going to be giving 100 per cent.
“Once they get their opportunity they’re going to do the best they can. There’s players who were on the bench or weren’t even in the squad who can do a very good job for Arsenal.”
Another way of keeping him happy is for him to get good service and for Arsenal to keep getting good results. So the fact that he is working well with his attacking team mates, as Santi Cazorla declared in an Arsenal.com report, is all good news and bodes well for the future.