Arsenal fans should remember Thierry Henry before writing off Christos Tzolis

Christos Tzolis is currently out injured, following a blow he took on international duty with Greece. The break in his action is forcing Arsenal fans to consider how fruitful the signing has been - in truth, it's been far from fruitful so far.

Tzolis has had two games since signing for Arsenal - if you rule out the Community Shield, then he's had one, that being his Premier League debut against Coventry. Since then, Tzolis has been fairly absent, but it's not over for him.

Prepare yourselves, Gooners, I am about to compare Tzolis to Thierry Henry. Don't click off yet; it'll all make sense.

Thierry Henry's Arsenal struggles should change how fans view Christos Tzolis

When Thierry Henry first arrived at Arsenal, he was a left-winger. That was before Arsene Wenger shortly converted him to a striker, the position he's most recognised for playing. The solution for Christos Tzolis is not as straightforward.

What is similar about how Henry started at Arsenal and how Tzolis started at Arsenal is the struggle they both faced. Henry took some time to adjust to life at Arsenal - if you want numbers, it took him nine appearances to score his first goal for Arsenal.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Arsenal fans needed to be patient with Henry. So did Wenger. It's a good thing they did, because now, Henry is Arsenal's all-time leading goal scorer and the best Arsenal player of all-time.

Arsenal fans don't need to expect the floodgates to open for Tzolis in the same way they did for Henry. Nobody expects Henry-numbers from anyone, actually.

What Arsenal fans do need, though, is to learn a lesson from the patience given to Henry and extend it to Tzolis. After all, we've all seen what patience can do to a player.

When Tzolis arrived at Arsenal, nobody expected too much of him. We were all blown away by his debut, and that's when the expectations were raised.

There is a lot of pressure placed on Tzolis - pressure that he probably didn't ask for. It is not on him that he was the sole replacement for a duo of departures.

His time on the treatment table is the perfect time for Arsenal fans to reflect. We need to be realistic about what to expect from Tzolis, and we need to avoid writing him off after a handful of absent performances.

If he comes back and makes fans eat their words, that's a net positive for everyone involved.

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