Can Arsenal’s Current Squad Rival Thierry Henry’s Invincible-Era Arsenal?

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Olivier Giroud vs Dennis Bergkamp

Hands down, everyone is going to pick the Invincible’s strike force. And they should. This is one area where hindsight beats potential by a long shot.

Thierry Henry is the best Gunner ever and Bergkamp isn’t far behind him, ranking in Arsenal’s top five strikers of all time.

But let’s not downplay what Olivier Giroud can do for the current squad.

Let’s look at Giroud vs Bergkamp. Believe it or not, the two have similar striking frequencies. Giroud scores .43 goals per appearance, whereas Berkamp scored .40 times per appearance. But that was in Bergkamp’s first five years, as that’s when he was scoring consistently.

It’s hard comparing these two as well. Bergkamp had Thierry Henry opposite him in the second half of his Arsenal career, whereas up until this year, Giroud was the main guy. But still, statistically speaking, they had similar starts to their Arsenal careers. Granted, Giroud came over when he was much older, so he has less time to make an impact, it’s still a testament to his team contribution that he can even be mentioned here alongside Bergkamp.

Being 28, weighing up Giroud’s ‘potential’ is a bit muddled, but you can’t hide the fact that his goal-scoring frequency has increased in each sequential year. Bergkamp’s goals came and went, they never steadily increased.

Again, Bergkamp is better than Giroud, we know that. But Giroud is still incredibly underrated and hopefully, in time, Arsenal fans will appreciate him.