Arsenal...Wenger has nothing to worry about Prt 2: Up front in Attack

This is part 2 of a multi part article on reviewing Arsenal this season and looking towards the future. I have just looked at the summer signings and I shall now look at the strikers that Wenger had at his disposal for this season. If you looked at the line up this season Wenger had four strikers at his disposal. Adebayor, Da Silva, Bendtner and Robin Van Persie. He also had Walcott and Hleb. Hleb really an attacking midfielder usually plays a contributing role behind a lone striker. Walcott a developing centre forward, started his Arsenal career as a left midfielder and was placed on the right this season as Wenger continues to shape him into the perfect attacking weapon. With this being said I was not too worried about who would score goals. I felt that each player up front could at least gaurantee us at least 5 goals each. I will now focus on each players contribution for the season and my predictions of the future.

Emmanuel Adebayor: I began to take notice of this young forward from Togo last season. I noticed that he had amazing dribbling skills and pace. He was tall and was able to use this as an advantage against defenders. He was also very young only 22 at the time. He had some evident weaknesses. He had a poor first touch, tended to hold the ball too long and portrayed poor shot selection. Despites these facts I felt that he would improve once he recieved more playing time. My prediction was he would eventually develop into a fairly decent footballer. I had no idea that Adebayor would transform himself into a goal scoring nemisis feared by defenders in England and Europe. His growth over the summer has been amazing. He was handed the mantle of lead striker in Henry's departure and he has fit into his role almost seamlessly. He has gone from scoring 12 goals in all competitions last season to a whopping 27 and counting in this season. His height and strength make him difficult to be marked. Sometimes takes as much three defenders to contain him and this opens up the shooting lane for midfielders approaching the goal. He is effective in the air and can outpace the swiftest of defenders. Adebayor still needs to improve his first touch and work on his shot selections. At the rate his growth so far one can only feel happy he is in an Arsenal shirt.

Robin Van Persie: Adebayors partner is a 25 yr old Dutch player known to the world as Robin Van Persie or RVP as Arsenal fans love to call him. This youngman has been with Arsenal for a number of seasons. Throughout the years gunner fans have seen this youngman evolve from being a hotheaded cocky individual to a stalwart goal scorer with technical insight of those older than himself. RVP has the ability to score from almost anywhere in the attacking space. His freekicks rival those of Beckham, Pirlo and Henry. His also can be relied upon to take corner kicks and supply his teamates with precision passes. RVP has scored some of Arsenal's most memorable goals and has galvanized himself as a gunner favourite. The Dutchman has only one pressing problem. He has been injury prone throughout his professional career. RVP is not a player that can be relied upon to play for the majority of the season due to constant injury woes. RVP despite his injury problems will still provide a large number of goals. In the 06/07 season he managed to be Arsenals leading scorer with 13 goals. This is amazing considering the fact that his season ended in December due to injuries. This season was no different RVP got off to an amazing start scoring over 4 goals before getting injured playing for his country in November. He has recently returned and has scored two goals to date.

Nicklas Bendtner: This 19 yr old young man hails from Denmark and was acquired by Arsenal a couple seasons ago. He was then shipped of to then Championship team Birmingham City to gain first team experience. He scored 13 goals in 42 appearances. He was a contributing fugure to the promotion Birmingham into the Preimereship. This goal tally impressed Wenger so much that he decided to recall the young man back to the Emirates. He granted him first team appearances during the pre-season warm up matches. Bendtner is a tall lanky striker that has skillful ball control and pace. He is also very talented in the air. He has scored a number of stunning headers this season. There are however some problems with this youngman. He reminds me of RVP when he first came to Arsenal. Bendtner is very arrogant and believes that he should have a permanent spot in the starting line up. He often refuses to pass the ball to his team mates and takes on defensives on his own. This attitude was not welcome by his team mates and have created an altercation between himself and strike partner Adebayor he. This year Bendtner has managed to score 7 goals out of 37 appearances, most of them coming off the bench. Bendtner's development will be dependent on a change of attitude, if he does not humble himself I see him making an early exit. Arsene however seems to know how to handle this type of player.

Eduardo Da Silva: In 2007 a young striker playing for a Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb came to the Emirates stadium and scored a magnificent goal on the home side. Wenger was so impressed with the young man that he made query on his availability. Last summer Arsene Wenger released the news that he intended to sign a gifted Brazilian, Croatian as a replacement for the departing Theirry Henry. This signee was Da Silva a 24 yr old striker who could not seem to stop scoring goals in Croatia. During his 6 seasons with his Dinamo Zagreb, Eduardo has made 107 appearances and has scored a maginicent tally of 76 goals. He scored 15 goals in 10 appearances in 2002/03 season when he was loaned to second division Croatian side Inker Zapresic. Eduardo's strong points are his inhuman like compusure, great first touch and magnificent shot selection. He is able to enter the box and score goals despite being pressured by oncoming defenders and the goal keeper. He can score with both feet and his head and is able to play in the wing positions. This season Eduardo went from being unknown to one of the most fear strikers in the premiereship. He opened his goal tally in the Champions League and then went on to score in other competitions. It took him some time to score in the BPL. His first two goals in the premiereship came in December and he went on a run to score more in 08. The promising Arsenal strikers season soon came to an end. In February playing against Birmingham he recieved and gut wrenching tackle from a defender that resulted in a double compound fracture. He is expected to return in the middle of the 08/09 season. Before his injury Edaurdo managed to appear for Arsenal 31 times, scoring 12 goals and creating 8 assists in all competitions. If Da Silva makes a full recovery I expect him to continue his fine form of scoring goals.