Arsenal new signing Danny Welbeck has a lot to prove at his new club and will be given the chance by manager Arsene Wenger who will at last allow the England international to play in his favourite central attacking role, something he was never allowed to do at Manchester United while competing with Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney.
Whether or not United’s new manager Louis van Gaal realizes that it was Welbeck playing out of position that caused him to score less goals, the 63-year-old Dutchman sited Warbeck’s lack of goals as the reason why he was sold to Arsenal saying: “He played three seasons for the first team, but he doesn’t have the record of Robin van Persie or Wayne Rooney. And that is the standard,” Van Gaal said.
“That is why we let him go, because of Falcao, but also to allow the youngsters to fit in. That is the policy. That is why I am here.”
Welbeck should thrive at his new club where he will bring the kind of pace that will stretch the opposition in a way that Olivier Giroud could never do allowing the creative midfielders more space to ply their trade in.
Expect to see Welbeck make runs behind the opposing defence looking to get inside the box where he will be looking to be fed the ball from the more attack minded midfielders that Wenger will play to compliment his new signing.
As good as all this sounds when Arsenal face Manchester City Saturday at the Emirates Wenger must resist the urge to start too many attack minded players and think back to the match last season when they lost 6-3 at the Etihad in Manchester.
Unfortunately Arsenal failed to sign a defensive midfielder during the summer the lack of whom was there for all to see during the 1-1 draw with Leicester in which Mathieu Flamini was pulled out of position on numerous occasions as the Fox’s created many chances on the counter attack, something that Manchester City are also well known for.
This is something that Wenger must be aware of knowing that he cannot rely on Flamini being his only defensive minded midfielder, and should he do that and select the team that played against Leicester, Manchester City will punish Arsenal as they did last season.
The best approach would be to play Flamini deep with Wilshere and Ramsey telling them to protect the defence, and yes Arteta is a more defensive minded player, but he no longer has the mobility of the other two.
The Gunners attack can be spearheaded with Welbeck with the pace coming down the flanks from Oxlade-Chamberlin and Sanchez which means there is no place in the team for Mesut Özil who in our opinion does still not put in the work required when it comes to tracking back.
Against City the Gunners must be prepared to sacrifice style if they are to come away with at least a draw against last season’s champions and if they can sneak a win so much the better.
It will also be a good test match before taking on Borussia Dortmund next Tuesday in the Champions League.
Now of course this is just our opinion what Wenger actually decides to do is up to him.
