Arsenal: Danny Welbeck Should Have Free Pass For Season

Arsenal were familiarly stale against Chelsea despite a couple solid chances, but the main story was how Danny Welbeck captured the game as a sub.

Arsenal’s title hopes were stamped out with a steel-toe boot, although to be fair, their hopes were a burnt-out matchstick sitting in the mud. It just wasn’t in the cards after Bellerin was cold-cocked by Marcos Alonso on that first goal.

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At half, all the stats were pretty equal, although it’s hard not to notice who wanted it more. It was Chelsea through and through. The Gunners looked like they did against Watford and, most notably, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez both went missing, although to be fair I feel like putting Alexis back up front was largely to blame.

Danny Welbeck, meanwhile, was on the bench for whatever unknown reason. Needless to say, it was a poor reason. Welbeck deserved to start and when he finally got onto the pitch in the 70th minute, he showed why.

Social media may have already been pretty biased, but they had a point. In Welbeck’s first 15 minutes, he did more with his time than Ozil, Alexis and Walcott combined. His strength and speed, both of which he has in abundance, were on display as he ripped through Chelsea defenders like no one else had been able to do all day.

He had a header from a solid cross that would have beaten literally any other keeper and just in general, the fire was there, the desire to win was there and the dedication to the cause, no matter how bleak, was there.

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He had everything Arsenal needed to have from the onset when so few others had it.

I was actually baffled that Wenger didn’t pull the trigger and start Welbeck, but should I be? Why would he try something somewhat new against a team that he needs to beat when he could rely on the same old people?

And why was Giroud first off the bench and not Welbeck?

My questions won’t be answered, but the point is – I hope that Welbeck starts every game for the rest of the season. There is absolutely no reason not too.

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Don’t reward the people that couldn’t get it done by sending them out there over and over. Reward the ones that want to get it done and might well have gotten it done if given the chance they earned.