Is this really the BEST Arsenal attack ever?

The Arsenal and England international star Theo Walcott is finally back in the match day squads after a year on the sidelines with the anterior cruciate ligament injury he picked up in the FA cup win over the spuds last January. So he is understandably keen to get on to the pitch and start to score goals for the Gunners again.

And as he told Arsenal Player this week, Walcott is even more excited about rejoining the Arsenal attack because of the quality we have in that area now, with Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck having joined Giroud, the Ox, Cazorla, Ozil and all. In fact, the pacy forward feels that this could well be the best attacking line-up that Arsenal have ever had.

Theo said, “It is a great balance and once I am fully fit, I think it is going to be some force for the Premier League to handle.

“Danny is a workaholic as well – he runs around and really works for the team. There are so many options and Alex [Oxlade-Chamberlain] is also doing very well.

“Obviously there is me as well coming back, and then you have the likes of Aaron and Jack in midfield. The list goes on, that’s how good we are going forward. It is a headache for the manager when you have that many great attacking options.

“When I came, it was Pires and Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Thierry and Reyes – that’s some attacking force as well. I think this squad probably does beat it, but we need to prove it first.

“[When] we go and achieve a little bit more than winning the FA Cup, then I think we can stand up and say this is the best attacking line up we’ve ever had.”

That really is a bold statement from Walcott, but is he correct? As he says, they need to prove it first and so far we have not had them all fit at the same time to show us how potent they can be. With a bit of luck, though, we may see that attack in full flow during the rest of this season.

When Walcott says ever, I guess he means Arsenal under Wenger as that covers as long as he can remember. There were some strong attacking line-ups before, of course, such as George Graham’s 1991 with Alan Smith, Kevin Campbell, Anders Limpar and Paul Merson. And that attack was boosted by the signing of the great Ian Wright, but I also think it’s fair to say that Graham’s success was more based on a tight defence.

Another contender could be Bertie Mee’s double winning side of 1971, with Ray Kennedy and John Radford both getting over 20 league goals and with George Graham and Charlie George scoring 14 and 10. But surely the attack that Walcott mentioned when he first joined Arsenal is the one most people will compare the current one with.

Will Theo be proved right? If not, which attacking line-up was Arsenal’s best ever?

Tags Alexis Bergkamp Henry Walcott

24 Comments

  1. What’s wrong with you today? Is it because we won against City …
    Previously “Giroud wants to be like Arsenal legend Thierry Henry!”
    and now “Is this really the BEST Arsenal attack ever?”
    never know what will be next …
    I’m afraid you got carried away big time …

    1. The writer didn’t give this opinion. He’s just reporting what Walcott said. It’s Walcott’s opinion, not the writer or this website.

    1. Sanogo is on loan. He isn’t even here. You might as well include Podolski who is on loan too but better finisher.

      Sanchez is a winger so why compare with Bergkamp who was a striker?

      1. and I might add that Theo also said, “…but we have to prove it first.” That means ‘hold your judgements until the results are in!’ Might be a few years!

    2. Quality and consistency wise I might take only ” Bergkamp vs Sanchez”, the rest are not far though …
      where is Danny by the way

    3. Henry>Giroud
      Bergkamp>Sanchez (not really two to be compared though, but w/e)
      WiltordSanogo
      Pires>Özil.

      I find it funny that Walcott only mentioned british players. Walcott (and maybe ramsey) are the only ones who would be included in our Best XI.

      Cazorla-Coquelin
      Walcott-Özil-Sanchez
      Giroud

      vs

      Ramsey-Coquelin
      Walcott-Wilshere-Oxlade
      Welbeck

      You must be kidding me ^^

  2. If OG AS and TW are all in form with an in form MO behind them than yes as you would have 80+ goals from those 4 with numerous assists.

  3. Pretty obviously not. Theo just got a little carried away with his wording in that interview, I bet he woke up and thought “did I really just say that”…

    2 of the previous strike-force are immortalized in bronze outside the stadium. We have some good options but let’s not get carried away here. There is no question which era was superior in quality.

  4. I disagree, respectfully

    Guys like Henry, Bergkamp, Wiltord, Kanu, Lungberg, Pires were the best.

    The only players we have that I would say is off similar quality are Walcott, Sanchez and Ozil

    Henry and Bergkamp were much better than Giroud and Welbeck

    That is why we need a WC striker. Especially if rumours are true of possible summer transfers of:
    Reus going to City
    Cavani going to United
    Benzema going to Liverpool

    I’m afraid Giroud and Welbeck (both good strikers) won’t be enough (even with Walcott and Sanchez fire power)

    1. What’s with all the hate towards Wilshere? I mean yes he’s had a though time which was partly due to his constant injuries, but he’s not THAT bad that you guys must constantly hate on him… Remember Ramsey..

  5. Cazorla 7.5 Parlour 7.5
    Wellbeck 6 Wright 9
    Sanchez 8.5 Pires 8.5
    Giroud 8.0 Smith 8
    Walcott 6.5 Lungberg 8
    Wilsher 6.5 Kanu 8
    Arteta 6.5 Gilberto 8
    Coquelin 6.5 Vieira 9
    Ramsey 7 Fabregas 8.5
    Ozil 7 Paul Davis 7
    Podolski 6 Wiltord 8
    Sanogo 2 Adebayor 4
    Ox 6 Merson 6.5
    Arshavin 2 Bergkamp 9
    Park -2 Henri 9

      1. Generally out of his mind. Adebayor 4? Noone back in 2008 would agree to that. Arshavin 2? Pff. He didnt play good, but then again you cant blame him when he’s played out of position, just like özil

  6. I can see where he was coming from in that potentially they could become the best based on himself and Ozil improving a lot. The big difference is that they still have everything to prove whereas Henry, Bergkamp, Ljungberg and Pires had nothing to prove when they were at their peak. Also very rarely do we see them really tear into an opponent and rack up huge scores as great attacks can do when they are on form. You can see that it is possible but Theo himself will have a big influence on that because his career so far has been terribly inconsistent to the point where he might score a hattrick one week and be almost anonymous in a game a week later.

  7. Holy sh!t, I can’t believe this article has now also appeared up on just arsenal. it’s been in just about every newspaper and website over the last few days, and is a classic example of the media completely taking his comment out of context.

    For starters, Theo never said it was the BEST arsenal attack ever. He said IF they win something more than the FA cup we can stand up and say its the best attack we’ve ever had. I’m not sure if you noticed but there is a pretty big IF in there!

    Also, he was comparing our current attack to that of when he arrived in 2006, not henry, pires, bergkamp etc at their peak. In 2006, these players mentioned were coming to the end of their Arsenal careers, and if you take a look back at the goals scored in that season, you’ll also notice that they had scored a similar amount, if not slightly less than this current team.

    Stupid and pointless article really, i expect better from just arsenal.

  8. I like the confident statement from Theo but we all know the best attacking lineup was Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, and Ljungberg

  9. @jeff,you want to know why i hate Jack Wilshere? He is an over rated player who has never fulfilled his so called ‘potential’. When he plays most times we don’t win cus of his style which has refused to change to suit other players,and stop using injuries as an excuse for his poor performances.Ramsey has been having injuries as well and each time even when he is out of form he tries to make clever passes and with him the midfield is stable and creative coupled with his contribution with goals but Wilshere? ‘hmm’, you know what i mean na; he receives the ball and runs directly to the opponents wall and he does this 4/5 times consistently in every match.I mean, what kind of football is that? He plays like a blind man. So for the CM role Ramsey or Cazorla all the way,Cazorla even performs better in CM than Wilshere.Let Wilshere let from Ramsey other wise he won’t improve.

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