Thursday, March 28, 2024

Wel-Back Amongst It: Wingers Stats vs. Newcastle

In a game where fatigue played a huge part for this Gunners side, it was a man like Danny Welbeck who Arsene Wenger knew he could call upon to deliver a performance full of work rate.

Since joining the Gunners from Manchester United, the winger has picked up a bit more action than he did from the fellow Champions League qualification challengers.

After a goal against United and impressive show in Monte Carlo led to the Englishman picking up his third start in four games.

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WhoScored Rating: 8.18

Not exactly the star of the show today, but boy did Welbeck put a shift in whilst taking the place of Mesut Ozil, who missed through illness today.

It was scrappy game for Welbeck, who regularly switched wings with Alexis Sanchez, but that didn’t seem to faze the Englishman, as he picked up a 78% success rate when taking on nine dribbles throughout the 89 minutes he played, before being subbed on for Hector Bellerin.

Welbeck did manage to get in and around the goal a few times, and managed to get three shots away, with one being blocked, one off target and one that forced a tough save from Tim Krul.

Probably Welbeck’s biggest influence of the game was his ability to provide the assist for Giroud’s first goal of the game. The 23 year-old rose highest of the defenders to knock on a glancing header from Santi Cazorla’s free-kick, which was eventually turned in by the body of Giroud.

Defensively, he managed to win 67% of his aerial duels, and two of those were key to stopping Newcastle slotting home an equaliser.

But overall, it was a game where Welbeck showed his brilliance through stamina and passion, there was never a stage where he looked grumpy or tired to chase down a ball. But so far the Englishman is doing exactly what he needs to do, and thats showing the boss that he is a viable candidate to take the places of Walcott, Ozil or Oxlade-Chamberlain.

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