Written by Joel Che on Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Around a tight Everton box, Lampard played a square ball to Drogba. Didier did not even look up, he hit it sweetly and gently first time and it flew to the back of the net. At Anfield, Arshavin stole 10cm from a defender and in a swift follow up move, hit a fierce unexpected shot that was in the back of the net before the keeper could brace himself. At Old Trafford, a ball fell to Rooney surrounded by 6 Aston Villa players. He took swift first touch and unleashed in the following move but it hit the bar.

Fabregas talked about how an exceptional striker can change an average team. I wouldn't debate the description of Chelsea as an average team. That is not the point here. The point here is just how important a great striker is to a premiership team this season. This season is a little different.

In the early days of the Premiership and even as late as 4 years ago, teams at the bottom of the table used to arrive at Old Trafford and tried to attack when they had possession. They got thrashed. English teams outside the top three in those days like Everton and Leeds qualified for Europe and showed up trying to attack whenever they had the ball. They were severely beaten. As the gap between top and bottom grew, teams figured out that collective defending and "nicking" a goal was the way forward.

As many foreign retired players comment all the time, defending has improved in England so much over the past 5 years. Team defending is better here than anywhere else. Most of us only watch Arsenal games and then read about the rest or watch highlights. Highlights and match reports always over-react and focus on result, not the 90minutes. The story of 90minutes at Old Trafford was that Aston Villa are physically stronger than any other team in the premiership (including Chelsea) and that their collective defending was spectacular. They fought like mad. The same story was played out by Wolves against Spurs and up and down the country.

There has been no time when a fantastic striker is more important than now. What Drogba did against Arsenal and Arshavin did against Liverpool are the things you need to give you that extra margin in this league when it is so tight. Chelsea has been flattered by Drogba's moments of brilliance just as Arsenal got away yesterday with an own goal and moment of brilliance from Arshavin to give us two points when one would have welcome under the circumstances.

If you look at the table, you will see Drogba and Anelka followed by Rooney and then van Persie's first few games and his absence and Fernando Torres absence. You can see that on the table. Chelsea have 1.5 magic strikers (Drogba and Anelka) and it shows. Last year, Man Utd had two magic strikers in Rooney and Ronaldo and so they were above Chelsea. This season with Rooney alone, they are a step down. You can see it in the table.

One reader called "Gunpowder" made a fantastic comment to my last post where I praised Eboué. He said "people don't completely realize how well the team can be balanced with Eboué." I couldn't have said it better. Song and Eboué are going to Africa in January and Arsenal now has third spot with potentially only 3 points behind the leaders heading into January when the leaders will be losing their talisman for a month or more.

Here is the moment of opportunity. The business case is clear. What is the premiership worth to us? Whatever it is worth, we should be able to pay nearly as much as that for a striker in January to win it. We have to really go for it. It is so important to do that because it will keep this team together and allow us to regain our place in the elite and prepare us for bigger challenges next season. It will be a great reward for the fans. We have a fantastic opportunity now and must take it.

When I hear Wenger talking about Dzeko's price being too high, I hope he is not talking about the quoted £15m because that is nothing and we should not be thinking in such limited fashion. I am not advocating buying Dzeko because I don't really know him but I think we should be thinking about spending up to £30m or more to win the league even if that player is cup tied for the champions league. We can look as far as David Villa or even try to tempt a player from a team that is in the knockout stages.

We must do that because Gallas or Vermaelen could well get injured. Fabregas or Arshavin might get injured. We need a dangerman to cover ourselves.

The hierarchy at Arsenal should not concern themselves with what happens when van Persie returns or what it means for Eduardo to buy a new striker. They should focus on our immediate ambition and who we need right now to win the league. We can deal with surplus strikers later when they are all fit. Afterall, if we buy a good striker, he can be resold for the same value next season if we want to or someone else at Arsenal can go.

I hope Arsenal can show the ambition to fully exploit this opportunity and fortify the team in the absence of Song, Eboué, and van Persie. It is already clear that we cannot expect too much from Rosicky, Walcott and Vela just yet.

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