Danny Welbeck has taken another step towards full fitness with his first competitive football in 286 days as he completed an hour for Arsenal’s under-21s against Brighton.
The England international hasn’t featured for the first team since the 0-0 draw with Chelsea in late April when he picked up a knee problem that eventually required surgery.
It’s believed Welbeck came through his run-out unscathed, leaving the pitch with the Gunners enjoying a 3-0 advantage.
Earlier in the day, Arsene Wenger had outlined when he envisages having the striker available for selection.
“He is playing today with the under-21s, for one half at least. I believe that he needs to play two or three games before thinking about coming back into the first team.
“We can organise games internally without being official games and I think in the next three weeks he should be available.
“He has not played for 10 months so we need to be patient with him. He has good basic fitness but after it is competitive decision-making and he needs to get used to that again.
“We are a bit relieved because with such an injury, you never know how a player will come back. But he looks promising in training.”
Dat Guy
He is risen! Praise be!
Sorry, but he’s not the world class striker the team so desperately needs. Perhaps to give Giroud a rest once in a while, (which is certainly important,) so it will help us stay in the top four, that’s all. Compare him or even Giroud to Vardy, Kane or Aguero and ask yourself who you’d prefer in the side….and no wonder we’re in fourth.
Vardy has hit top form at 28(29?) so there’s a chance Welbeck can be more consistent and become a class striker. I sincerely believe that Arsene is hesitating to give Walcott time up front because he offers no cohesion or hold up play. Welbeck has always had good pass success rate in the final third and with his pace and hold up play(to an extent), he’s a more rounded striker than walcott or giroud even. The downside is he is not a proven finisher, but I feel he should get starts in the FA cup games up front and in… Read more »
Thanks for this! I hope people realize there are only a few World-class strikers in the world and not every team can have them. Do people here consider Aguero world-class? I don’t because he’s injured all the time. I mean who, if any, are the world class strikers in the EPL? World-class strikers in Europe: Ibra, Barca’s front 3, Lewandowski, and Ronaldo. It’s ok to build your team around really good strikers like Giroud. Welbeck can improve, but I’m not sure how people don’t rate him…
Okay to build a squad around giroud, but better to build it around Mesut ozil.
Aguero is not world class because “he’s injured all the time”?? Now that’s funny.
You mean the same Aguero that’ll score at least 15 if he plays 25 matches?? The same Aguero that scores more than Giroud in less games almost every season?? yeah nice one.
Keep building your team around Giroud and Welbeck and expect to win the title or call yourself a big club.
And your point is, Trez?
Saying Aguero is not world class “because he’s injured all the time” is frankly daft.
Aguero plays 20-25 games in the league. He has a better goals to game ratio than THIERRY HENRY.
How anyone can make such a deluded statement is ridiculous to me.
One of the rare occasions that I agree with you.
Aguero is definitely one of the very best, but unfortunately he’s not available to us, so what do you suggest we do instead of using Giroud or DW?
I guess we could buy a player proven in a minor league whilst paying through the nose for him, and hope he can handle the PL…
No one is claimining that he is, but he has tons of potential and is effecive if used the right way as Ferguson did. He is more of a team player than a player who single handedly wins games tbf.
Man united always had an inform Rooney, RVP, Tevez and Berbatov. Not Giroud and Walcott.
He supplements WC players upfront which we don’t have.
It was okey when you mentioned the term *world class* then you went ahead and gave the term a bad smell by mentioning those fellows. I don’t know the definition of world class, as sure as Martin Luther King was Black, those three are not world class. Stop the negativity man. This is Arsenal, negativity will kill you
Well, bar messi, aguero is easily top 3 striker in the world, which kind of qualifies as world class in my book. On the other hand, having those two with him in the same sentence is a joke, and a very good one.
RVP in his last season for us, Thierry Henry, thats world class.
I bet when they were scoring goals for us, you loved the world class tag.
Bore off
An ill wind that does nobody good. Welbeck is a very important player for us. His asset is his versatility: he can play across the front three. He is more than just goal. Try and be glad that we have another option – even if from the bench.
Could be huge. Need him or Walcott to lead the line for the end of the season so the team can go back to the highly succesfull counter-attacking style that worked so well in the beginning of the season. Doesn’t matter if Walcott is low on confidence, a couple of goals as a striker will quickly restore it.
Judging on the last 10 years relying on Walcott to be anything other than inconsistent would seem to be a bit silly
Doesn’t have to be consistent with his goalscoring, his speed is always a threat. The team loks far more dangerous with him (or maybe another mobile player like welbeck) as CF. That type of lineup takes the best ut of Ozil and Alexis as they have a player who can make runs ahead of them for passes and make space for their runs too. Just look at the United match.
hmmm… I would say he does have to be consistent with his goalscoring if he’s playing as a striker. If you have a striker with no end product what’s the point? Might as well just put a greyhound up front. I don’t know what’s going on with Walcott, he seems to run hot and cold constantly but I would rather have someone more reliable in terms of end product and more team oriented on the field. If he managed to do that (like he did in a couple of games this season) then I would be more than happy to… Read more »
Good news to know he is close, even if he isn’t the answer at striker he provides an option and can be very effective on the wing especially in games where we may have to defend deep and counter like against Barcelona.
I think the biggest benefit of Welbeck coming back is pressure on players like Giroud and Walcott. Giroud always steps up when his position is under threat. Walcott could do with getting dropped too. 2 touches in the last game is abysmal.
To be fair the standout player of that game was Nelson, who I think got a goal and 2 assists within the space of 20 odd minutes. The game time will be invaluable to dat guy though, build up his confidence ready for the now uphill final run in
Giroud and Walcott looked knackered against Southampton. Would be good to be able to rotate properly.
Exellant news. Hope he’s back soon and sticks it right up van gaal.
Great news! Welcome back, Welbz!
We need you to put on your scoring boots pronto! ? #DatGuyWelbz
Great news, which goes some way to lighten the dark clouds of pessimism that have hampered our last few weeks.
Falcao didn’t cut it then . Ha ha.
Hope he plays soon. I love Danny’s work rate.. Theo and Ox need the bench
Dat guy is not dat good. Welcome squad cover but he isn’t going to make a major difference to our season.
And you know that how exactly? Who thought coquelin or Belerin would take off when they ‘stepped in’ to cover for injured players? Welbeck has the attributes to be a top striker if given the chance.
Remember fans on deadline day that summer bushing arsenal and wenger with man.utd singing word class falcao and we are signing their 4th choice striker.
I’m sad for the bad injury he had but I’m sure welbz woudl explode to form this season if he wasn’t injured he has great potential and quality, trust my word next season when he will have proper preparation he will cement his place in our team and he will be like alexis irreplaceable.
Still yet to prove anyone right or wrong. 4 goals in over 20 games in the league isn’t earth shattering.
Welbeck scored 9 goals in the time he played and got injured falcoa got 5 and spent most time on bench dont diss welbeck he is hardworking plays for the team falcoa barely did enything
The Revenant
a very good player better than walcot,and his workrate is amazing,i thnk he is going to be decisive for us till the end of the season.
Welcome back Welbz
How far away is Cazorla? We need him now more than ever!
That’s a great fucking snap blogs!
Welcome to the party Welbeck. Here’s hoping that you’re not already at least 8pts too late.
COYG!!!!!!