Arsenal have won three league titles under Arsene Wenger, but have not seriously contended for the Premier League crown since 2004.
Emmanuel Petit
Speaking on French sports show SFR Sport, Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit has cooled talk of a title push from his former club, claiming that they need a 40-goal per season striker if they are to win the league again.
The Gunners have been on an impressive run of form recently, and have strung together six successive league victories that has seen them rise to second in the Premier League table.
Petit, speaking on SFR’s talk show ‘Le Vestiaire’, discussed the merits of a challenge from Arsene Wenger’s men this term, highlighting their lack of a proven goalscorer as a reason why they could struggle to get over the finishing line:
“Even though I love Arsenal and Arsene, I try to stay objective. They never quite satisfy me, and they often frustrate me. As long as Arsenal don’t have a striker who scores 40 goals a season like Aguero does at Manchester City. That’s what you need in any league: a striker who is one of the best in the world.”
Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero
Whilst Petit’s argument is understandable, finding a 40-goal per season striker is not quite as easy as the former Gunner and France international is implicating it to be.
In world football there are only a handful of players who have consistently produced 40 plus goal seasons.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Luis Suarez and possibly Sergio Aguero could be included in that bracket.
There is probably not one player on that list who could be bought for anything less than £80 million.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
It cannot be argued that Arsenal would undoubtedly be serious Premier League and Champions League contenders were they to have one of the five players mentioned above in their side, although the chances of that happening are slim to none.
Wenger is relying more on other players such as Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to improve their input from a goalscoring perspective, and help supplement the usual 15-20 goals expected from Olivier Giroud.
The Frenchman has been renowned for batting away criticism from former players, and it will be no surprise for him to do exactly the same in regards to Petit’s latest comments.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
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