Arsene Wenger has admitted that he made a mistake by playing Adebayor upfront on his own in a 4-5-1 formation as it isolated him and we didn’t look as dangerous as we have all season.

Eduardo vs Walcott

Arsene Wenger has admitted that he made a mistake by playing Adebayor upfront on his own in a 4-5-1 formation as it isolated him and we didn’t look as dangerous as we have all season. It is an interesting fact that we won 12 straight matches before we switched to 4-5-1. It could well be because we played against quality opponents in Liverpool and Manchester United but it could also be because of our more reserved approach.

Robin Van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor have enjoyed a successful partnership so far and have both started the season with goals but this changed when Robin Van Persie suffered a knee injury playing for his country in the European Championship qualifiers. Arsene had to find a new partner for Adebayor and the natural choice was new £8 million signing Eduardo Da Silva who has a more than impressive goalscoring record for his former club and country.

Eduardo started the next match for Arsenal alongside Adebayor and had a game to forget. The pace and power of the Premier League was too much for the Brazilian Croatian who was later taken off.
Theo Walcott was handed a shock start in the position we expected to see the young Englishman when he joined the club from Southampton in the January transfer window of 2006.

After a slow start the England Under 21 international caught fire and scored two fantastic goals. Unfortunately for him the next two matches were two massive games where Arsene decided to be cautious and play Adebayor on his own without a second striker.

Eduardo got his chance in the Carling Cup against Sheffield United and grabbed two fantastic strikers goals. The second goal was made to look so easy when youngster Gibbs threaded a ball through to Eduardo who slotted the ball past the keeper with ease.

Our next fixture is in the Champions League away to Slavia Prague and Arsene may well rotate his team slightly so one or both strikers could feature. But It will be interesting to see who gets the nod against Reading when Arsene fields what is likely to be his strongest team.

Eduardo and Walcott both have different strong points that will prove to be important for the team. Theo Walcott has the obvious electric pace to get away from his man, this will be especially important away from home when the opposition are more likely to play a higher defensive line, so they can take the game to us. Another plus point in having the young Englishman in the side is the fact that he can play as a right or left winger so this gives Arsene flexibility during matches to revert to 4-5-1 with Walcott and Hleb likely to switch positions.

Eduardo is a player who can not be involved and hardly get a kick for 89 minutes and then give him a chance and he can score. He is a natural finisher. Put the ball into the box and he is likely to be standing in the correct place to score the winner. He has very good International experience for his country and has an outstanding goalscoring record.

As age is on Theo Walcott’s side, I expect Arsene to choose Eduardo for his experience and finishing ability. Theo Walcott also is a very good finisher but Theo Walcott is also a fantastic impact player who can change the game from the bench and that is where I expect him to feature for most of this season.

Robin Van Persie is close to full fitness so the other strikers (Bendtner included) will have to work even harder to get minutes this season.

Who would you choose to partner Adebayor?