Arsene Wenger: Arsenal boss claims Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck and Lucas Perez is his best-ever group of attackers
Gunners gaffer has a plethora of talent to choose from following return of Welbeck from lengthy injury absence
ARSENE WENGER says Arsenal have NEVER had a better bunch of strikers.
Danny Welbeck’s return from injury gives boss Wenger more attacking firepower than he knows what to do with.
And he claims even the glory days of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robin van Persie cannot match his current FAMOUS FIVE.
Welbeck is battling Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Lucas Perez to lead the line against Watford tonight.
Wenger, whose side trail Premier League leaders Chelsea by eight points, admitted: “We’ve never had so many players who could perform and score goals.
“In terms of numbers and quality, this is the best attacking unit I’ve had here. We once had Bergkamp, Henry, Wiltord, then Van Persie. Which was not bad.
Old vs new: How do they compare?
Henry: Goals - 175, Assists - 74, Mins per goal: 86
RVP: 96, 39, 99
Bergkamp: 87, 94, 123
Wiltord: 31, 16, 145
Mins per goal involvement: 104
Sanchez: Goals - 44, Assists - 19, Mins per goal: 115
Giroud: 64, 23, 118
Walcott: 63, 43, 142
Welbeck: 8, 5, 174
Mins per goal involvement: 130
“But, on Saturday, we won 5-0 at Southampton when Alexis was a sub and Giroud and Ozil were not there. Yet still people say they want us to buy another striker. Then they ask, ‘How do you keep them all happy?’
“But when you have seven attackers, it’s impossible to get them all playing. They all want to play and all get annoyed when they are not selected.
“It is like in newspapers. You have a match to report and ten journalists who want to write it — but you can only name one.”
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Wenger admits Welbeck’s return after eight months out with a knee injury is a huge boost — even it gives him a selection headache.
He added: “No doctor in the world could give me a definite date on his return.
“Danny came back ahead of schedule but we didn’t know that when we decided to buy Perez in August.”
Arsenal have hit 81 goals in all competitions this season. With at least 19 more games left, they will finish with 127 goals at their current scoring rate.
The Gunners’ best goalscoring season under Wenger was in 2004-05, when the side recorded 117.