Arsenal: Danny Welbeck at Watford honestly terrifies me

Arsenal cast-off Danny Welbeck has signed with Watford, and I never thought a seeming innocuous combination could make me so scared.

Arsenal let Danny Welbeck walk for free at the end fo the year following more problems with injuries. He had a great start to the season too, as he often does, but ended up stumbling on his inability to stay healthy.

Now, his new club has been found. And it isn’t in Turkey, where he was often rumored to be headed, but Watford, here in the Premier League, right where he can annoy the hell out of us.

I legitimately hate Watford. I never suspected that I could hate a club as much as I hate any of the clubs in the top six, but Watford are there. Every time they face Arsenal, they are so damn annoying that beating them feels like an early holiday.

They always seem to prey on the Gunners’ weaknesses and discover new ones. They exploit the issues out wide, they play extra physical. And even though these are things the Gunners are improving, Watford will still find ways to be annoying.

Especially now that they’ve added Danny Welbeck.

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Welbeck is just an annoying player to play against because it’s hard to key off on any strength to keep under control. He’s got the speed to beat defenders, the talent with the ball to go around them, and the physicality to out-muscle and out-leap them.

Plus, Welbeck would know better than most how awful our defense can be. I can already picture him beating us in about three different ways. I can see him making runs in behind our defense, catching them flat-footed. I can see him dinking the ball around our defense and beating them in a foot race. I can see him on set-pieces, rising into the air and nodding home as our defenders look to each other, holding a hand in the air hoping for offside.

Or looking at each other, wondering who was supposed to be marking Danny Welbeck. Because someone was, just clearly not them.

If Welbeck is healthy when he faces us, I am not going to be a confident cookie going into the match-up. We know how he can wreck defenses, I just never expected it to be ours.

Of course, I don’t think he’ll celebrate the goal he inevitably scores, so maybe that’ll deaden the annoyance of the shirt he’s wearing. But probably not.