Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez’s Days At Striker Are Over

Arsenal hit the jackpot converting Alexis Sanchez to a striker, but could it be that the project is over after just half a season of rampant success?

Arsene Wenger kept insisting that Alexis Sanchez could be Arsenal’s Sergio Aguero or Luis Suarez. Initial reports made us annoyed and flustered, but sure enough, the Chilean lived up to it. By honing his attacking ability to focus mostly on attacking, we unlocked another level of his abilities.

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Yet here we are, half a season later, and it’s looking more and more like Alexis may well not play striker ever again, barring a crisis situation.

When you think of the internal competition that is required to make that happen, it’s impossible not to be excited. Olivier Giroud scored in literally every single game he started, so it only made sense to get him in there alongside Alexis.

Now that Danny Welbeck is back and firing, we have another option. And not just any option, but an option that has the speed and work rate that Alexis provided and some of the strength and physicality that Giroud provided.

All that was ever missing from Welbeck’s game was confidence in his goal scoring abilities. We saw that exact thing against Southampton. So much so that after that short performance, I have no qualms thinking that he might be ready for first team starting action at this very moment.

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Sorry Giroud. It’s nothing person. But you knew that.

Then there is Lucas. Lucas Perez! The man who I counted for gone not more than a few days ago because of Danny Welbeck. Lucas absolutely came to North London hoping to be a striker and there is no reason to doubt that he can’t do it. The problem is that between Giroud and Welbeck, Lucas’s best bet is starting out wide and cycling into the middle from time to time.

Alexis may or may not even be the best option at striker anymore. I can’t stop thinking about an attack with Alexis, Ozil and Welbeck altogether. I don’t even care who the fourth person is to round out that attacking corps. Honestly, Lucas might be one of the better options we have.

What it comes down to is pretty simple. We don’t have a winger that is good enough to justify pushing Alexis back up front. Not like we have quality strikers justifying sending Alexis back out wide.

Which is crazy, considering that Alexis scored 14 goals and added nine assists in 20 appearances up front.

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Barring any injuries, I really don’t see how Alexis gets back into the striker role. And that is not a demotion so much as it is just his team mates stepping up. Which should make the Chilean happy enough not to even notice that he has been displaced.