Can Danny Welbeck Do A Sturridge For Arsenal?

Can Danny Welbeck emulate Daniel Sturridge and excel for Arsenal as Sturridge has for Liverpool

After Danny Welbeck’s two well taken goals against Switzerland, there is now talk of him excelling at Arsenal just like Daniel Sturridge did at Liverpool.

Sturridge started off at Manchester City scoring 5 goals in 21 appearances before moving onto Chelsea. Here he was mainly played out on the wing but he was never first choice anyway and only netted 13 times in 63 appearances. They say the best players play centrally so they can have a bigger effect on the match as a whole. He was then loaned out to Bolton Wanderers and got his chance down the middle and he started to show his real potential that was always spoken about. Sturridge scored 8 goals in 12 appearances for the Wanderers and clearly caught the eye and two years later he sealed a deal to take him to Anfield.

The current Liverpool striker has already found the net 32 times in 46 appearances which is a phenomenal achievement in itself as these next two years could be the peak of his career. Also he is now England’s main number 9 striker, but is his place in the national side going to be under any threat at all to a man who has had a similar start to his career…….

When Sturridge picked up a knock it was then Danny Welbeck’s big chance to play down the middle for England in their first and only really difficult qualifier away to Switzerland. An impressive 0-2 away victory with Welbeck finishing one in each half exquisitely. One thing that still isn’t right however is the press, for once we put in a really good performance away to the top group seeds and all that the newspapers can focus on is that the first goal comes off his shin which is a shame.

However, Welbeck is now set to have a chance down the middle week in week out in the Premier League. Similarly to Sturridge he had loan spells away from his parent club Manchester United and was also predominantly played in wide positions and was then heavily criticised for not scoring enough goals. He scored 20 times in 90 appearances at Old Trafford but if you look at his England record that’s not that bad as he has 10 in 28.

Sturridge moved from one big club to another, was then played up top and is now renowned as one of the world’s best strikers. With Olivier Giroud out injured until the New Year and Joel Campbell and Yaya Sanogo  not quite ready yet it looks as though Welbeck will get his chance through the middle and he could spark into life just like his England teammate. We know Arsenal will play with the one up front and we presume it will be Welbeck and it could all click into place. With the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil behind him and threading cute through balls to him in behind then it could all just work.

We don’t know what went on with Louis van Gaal and Danny Welbeck but I think you have to give him credit for moving on and wanting to play first-team football.

With Giroud not quite having the pace to nip in behind frequently it could just work in Danny’s favour as he is 6 ft 1 and is a speedster. In my personal opinion I think it would be difficult to emulate the sheer brilliance Daniel Sturridge produced in his first season at Liverpool but I still think Welbeck has got what it takes to be a big success at the Emirates.