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Do games like against Fulham prove that Arsenal are crying out for a clinical striker?

Games like Fulham are the reason why we sadly need a number nine!

After hitting five goals in the space of four days against Sporting and West Ham United, a few members of the fan base were quick to get carried away and point out the reasons why we don’t need a striking addition. As short sighted as that may be, you just can’t blame them, because sometimes we are just a brilliant team, a brilliant team that doesn’t rely on the individual brilliance of one player in front of goal to constantly get us out of trouble.

Sharing the goalscoring burdens has been a strong suit for us in the last couple of seasons, however we cannot say we won anything major as a result of that. The games where everyone clicks into gear, those are the ones which may not require the individual brilliance of a center forward but games like this, against Fulham, where you dominate the ball without any real threat aside from set pieces, these are the games where a top quality striker is needed.

Andreas Pereira of Fulham and team mates celebrate

Andreas Pereira of Fulham and team mates celebrate. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

We saw a lot of instances from the last two campaigns where we fell short, an off day from this usually well oiled machine was detrimental to our campaign. The two striking options currently within our walls (Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz) are just not the profiles needed in such games. The former is badly low on confidence, not scoring in the League for us since January, yes January!

While Havertz offers little when the team is not on song. There were a couple of moments when set through on goal where I thought a different profile like an Isak, a Gyökeres or even a Sesko would do better. Havertz is a graceful runner into space but when it comes to making those powerful runs under pressure, he fails.

Now I’m not blaming the strikers for the dropped points at the Cottage, other areas were also at fault, however better recruitment in the forward areas could’ve been done a couple of windows ago. We never really prioritized attacking signings under Arteta and now the Spaniard might be wishing he did.

Just an opinion, would love to get yours. Thoughts gooners?

BENJAMIN KENNETH

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