Will Arsenal’s 72-goals man ever get the chance?

Pace, undoubted potential in the role and his desire to one day fill in the boots of his mentor and arsenal legend, Thierry Henry, are all reasons as to why people have starting to question whether Theo would benefit this Arsenal side more upfront – as his role is more fluid and allows him to cause problems with his speed and movement in comparison to is more commonly known role, which restricts him to play within the right flank and occasionally move inside.

Theo possesses some of the key traits needed to be a successful striker: speed, movement and deadly finishing which can punish any defence along with the backing of Thierry Henry and some of the Arsenal faithful. And after years of being deployed down the flank, some feel, including him, that the time has come for him to be used as a striker.

It wouldn’t be totally unknown for Wenger to use Theo as a striker in a central role as, during December last season, he was used there. Most memorably in the 7-3 thrashing at the Emirates where Theo scored an insane hat-trick including a solo goal Lionel Messi would be happy with. Also, in games where Wenger has been in search of a goal, he’s resorted to playing with two up top. Successful teams of the past have, when they’ve played with two up top had a bigger and smaller striker. ‘How’s that relevant?’ I hear you ask, but surely I cannot be the only person who thinks it’d be a decent idea to possibly try Walcott along with say Giroud? Even for a game. The aerial strength of Giroud and the speed of Walcott could make for a very deadly duo.

Personally, however, that game against Newcastle wasn’t enough and Theo didn’t thrive emphatically in the striking role and – due to Wenger preferring to play either 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 – I doubt we’d see Wenger shift the whole team formation just to test to see if an individual suited another role. Therefore, I think it’d be more beneficial to the team that Wenger continues using a bigger striker, who will hold the ball up, bring midfielders into play and offer something different to the small, technical players we have.

Olivier Giroud has done well this season considering he missed the opening three months due to injury and has scored 13 from 19 appearances this season, which is equivalent to about 30-goals-a-season.. not too bad from a man who has been described as a “12 million pound lamp post” from none other than Adrian Durham.

Moreover, Theo has scored 72 goals for arsenal in his career so far, with most coming from the wider position in contrast to his favoured central role. In addition to goals, I also think that Theo has the speed and capability of playing in a wide position and occasionally, when the time is right, come inside to either create as well as score goals. He’s shown in the past he’s more than capable and the last three seasons he’s improved indescribably. The only thing stopping him from getting more goals and assists is his injury problems and game time.

Currently, Theo Walcott is coming back from an injury but after two goals in two games, he hasn’t featured in the last couple of games, despite sitting on the bench so I would say that, at the minute, he should probably just focus on getting his fitness back to 100%, improving his game and getting back into the team.

I do hope we see him return to the starting XI soon because I love the way he plays and causes defenders headaches. His speed is just unmanageable at times and I think that arsenal are a better team with him than without him. In addition, I think that his speed is just what Wenger likes when he sets up to play counter-attacking football. Unfortunately for Theo, I’d use him as a winger as he’s not the type of striker Wenger usually likes to use and he’s – in my opinion – close to the perfect winger.