Thierry Henry expressed his concern about Arsenal’s front three in comparison to the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa.
Arsenal’s forward line of Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka have scored nine Premier League goals between them this season.
In comparison, Tottenham’s Son Heung-min has scored ten goals alone, Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has eight to his name, unsurprisingly Erling Haaland has 14, whilst Mohamed Salah has 11.
Most of the above teams, Man City, Liverpool and now Villa are challenging Arsenal for the Premier League title.
Thierry Henry was trying to debate if this was a good or bad thing for Arsenal.
On one hand, the Highbury legend pointed out that Mikel Arteta’s side are sitting second in the Premier League table, yet the forward line is yet to fire, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (13/12/23 at 7:40 pm).
But he doesn’t think you can win English football’s main crown by going down this current road.
The Premier League icon was shown a list of the top six Premier League side’s front three and how many goals they have scored, with the Gunners pretty low down on the list.
Arsenal’s front three
“If you take the front three that have been playing the last two Premier League games and more often than not,” said Henry. “You think of Leandro Trossard on the bench.
“But if you think of the front three of Man City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham and look at our front three.
“You can take it two ways. You are saying, as an Arsenal fan, you are (second in the table) and the front three that maybe didn’t play all the time. We are nine goals (in total so far this season), so if we ever start to score goals, then we can win this league.
“Or you are saying, if they stay at the same pace, then it’s going to be difficult to win the Premier League. You need to find a way to score goals and kill teams. I hope as an Arsenal fan, they can reach that level.
“I know you can tell me Man City weren’t doing it with a proper number nine (before Haaland). But Gundogan was coming with 16. De Bruyne came with 11. Mahrez came with 10. They were coming with goals, no matter what happened.”
January transfer window key for Arsenal
Everyone knows Arsenal will dip into the January transfer market, it’s just a case of who will they buy and how much can they spend.
The latter is the most important because FFP is going to restrict the London club from putting their foot down.
That’s why it’s key as to what areas of the pitch the team prioritises ahead of the window opening.
For some, the defence cost the team the Premier League title last season, so that’s the area they need to bulk up again.
Others worry about the midfield and what happens if Declan Rice gets injured, especially with Thomas Partey suffering issues of his own.
Either way, whatever call is made, it can have a big bearing on what happens to Arsenal in their Premier League title push.
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