Pain in the Arsenal
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Olivier Giroud Fit To Face Manchester United At Weekend

By Scott Johnson

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Arsene Wenger has been boosted by the news that striker Olivier Giroud will be fit to make an appearance against Manchester United this weekend, which comes as a welcome relief to Arsenal who may have to deal without Danny Welbeck after the striker picked up a niggle against Scotland during the international break.

Giroud broke his lower leg/foot back on August 23rd after closing down an opposition player against Everton and receiving a well struck ball to the ankle, which at time seemed fairly innocuous but has kept the Frenchman out of the team since. It is unlikely he will play the full 90 minutes against United by having him back in the squad will make for an interesting development.

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Why will it be interesting? Well having been Arsenal’s only truly recognised striker for the past couple of seasons he now faces extremely stiff competition from Welbeck, who has proved to be more than capable of heading the Arsenal front line and providing some wonderful link-up play with Sanchez and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Arsenal have been without serious competition up front for a while and now with Olivier Giroud returning they have two international standard strikers fighting for one spot, so how will Wenger play it?

Well for starters he would almost certainly keep Welbeck if he is fit enough to start, because disrupting a successful attacking line-up can’t really go too well. But if the rumours are true and Welbeck is out then Giroud should start, and from then on it has to be a case of who plays better. But do they offer different things?

Giroud is, stereotypically, better in the air than Welbeck and can act like a better target man. But with Arsenal playing a high percentage of balls into feet rather than in the air could it be a case, when looking at Welbeck, of a better fit?

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The stats, courtesy of squawka, do suggest Welbeck is lacking slightly in the air, winning only 34% of his aerial duels last season when playing at Manchester United. During this season he did score 9 goals and created 13 chances for his team, but this was from out wide most of the time. Welbeck did manage a shot accuracy of 53% and a conversion rate of 25%.

Giroud managed 16 goals and created a total of 37 chances for his Arsenal teammates last year, so whilst he does outscore Welbeck their seperate roles do make this a tough comparison. Girouds shot accuracy was 43% so he does score lower here, which is strange considering he would be taking shots from closer in and in better positions. He also only managed a conversion rate of 18.2%.

One thing I will note is that last year Giroud’s average pass length was 13m, whereas this year Welbeck (for Arsenal) has an average pass length of 11m. This is the second lowest of all the Arsenal players, and I think it shows how much closer he gets in regards to his link up play. Welbeck has also impressed in his chance creation this year, averaging almost two per appearance. He has also proved himself great at defending from the front, and I do think he is a more all-round player than Giroud.

So there’s my answer, if we need an all around player that’s going to provide more link-up and creation then your answer is Welbeck. If you need a goal-scorer, get in Giroud. But, why not both?

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