Arsenal: Danny Welbeck Injury Requires Major Shakeup

Danny Welbeck has been ruled out for nine months, and he may not be able to recover from such a blow a second time. What does this mean for the Arsenal squad?

Earlier this week it was confirmed that Danny Welbeck would be out of action for nine months after his injury against Manchester City on Sunday.

Welbeck didn’t injure himself per se, he got extremely unlucky by tweaking his already fragile knee the wrong way while going to ground for a challenge.

Welbeck has been ruled out of everything football-related through January 2017 and it remains to be seen whether or not he will return to the level he was at before he suffered this injury.

The English forward was thriving in the Arsenal first team, and he was looking more and more athletic after every full ninety minutes. Now that Arsenal’s best athlete is unavailable, what is the next move for Arsene Wenger?

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Welbeck has been starting some games for Arsenal, but the games that he’s spent either coming on as a substitute or on the bench he has witnessed Olivier Giroud’s record-setting goal drought.

Giroud is clearly not the striker Arsenal should rely on to deal with the pressure and lead the Gunners to a title.

Arsenal fans – and football supporters in general – might not be expecting Arsenal to uncharacteristically splash the cash on a world-beating forward, but it’s crystal clear that they need one if they want to appease the fan base.

However, the situation has now changed: even if Arsenal add one world-class forward they will be short of options thanks to Welbeck’s injury.

Giroud is an option, but he’s not been good as a substitute in 2015/16, and his record of consistency has been woeful at times. Arsenal should really throw some capital at two forwards rather than just one in order to have depth throughout the season.