Arsenal: So Danny Welbeck is the next Dennis Bergkamp then?

Arsenal rolled with two strikers for the first time in years, and it was Danny Welbeck who played the part of Dennis Bergkamp. Ironic?

Arsenal put forth their best match of the season against Fulham, mainly in the second half, when they thumped home four unanswered goals to pad the 5-1 lead that they would eventually take to the final whistle.

There were changes to the starting XI too, fairly big changes. Most noticeable, Danny Welbeck was given the start ahead of an ill Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Normally, that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows, but it was the nature of Welbeck’s usage that many found interesting.

He wasn’t used as a wide attacker, but rather as a No. 10, which ended up meaning that he was a second striker, because he and Alexandre Lacazette were pretty interchangeable more times than not.

It resulted in the formation looking more like a 4-4-2 than anything else. While Welbeck and Lacazette never strictly played side-by-side, they did play one in front of the other, with Lacazette up top most often and Welbeck tucked in behind him.

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It’s a combination that I hadn’t thought we’d see. Like, ever. A two-striker set always made sense to me, but in the capacity that it would be Lacazette tucked in behind Aubameyang. Then you could spring Aubameyang like Henry and allow Lacazette to be the Bergkamp, creating the chances, as he is so keen on doing when given the chance.

That hasn’t happened yet. What has happened instead is Welbeck has taken the Bergkamp role, with Lacazette taking the Henry role, and the most amazing part about all of it is that Welbeck did a fantastic job, leading the team with three chances created and proving himself a very, very apt No. 10/False 9, similar to Bergkamp in his effectiveness.

Okay, I’ve gone this far without saying what needs to be said – I understand that Welbeck and Bergkamp are very lacking in similarities, but given that it has been so long since we’ve seen the two striker set, it’s the best comparison that I can draw from within the team because of how well it worked out.

Unai Emery has been showing off his ability to make changes, and I hope that a two-striker set is something he will play around with more, seeing as how it’s a primary strength of this club, and one that yielded results without one of our best strikers.