Why Arsenal Should Keep Nicklas Bendtner at All Costs

There is a great divide amongst Arsenal fans when it comes to deciding whether they rate Nicklas Bendtner as a good player or not. On the one side you have those with the view that he's a tremendous talent, a scorer of great goals and possesses fantastic technical ability. On the other he's a waste of space, clumsy, squanders too many goal scoring opportunities and is inconsistent.

Truth be told, the Dane can be credited with all of the above traits, which often makes the striker a perplexing watch. In each one of his six years at Arsenal though, including a season long loan at Birmingham City FC, fans have seen him improve his goal tally, assists and teamwork.

Unfortunately, he still has the knack of missing absolute sitters, giving the ball away through an awful pass and ruining good build up play by taking a shot which flies past row Z.

So why should Wenger still keep faith in Bendtner's abilities?

Take his most recent performance against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fifth round replay. In the first 20 minutes he was completely out of the game. He made no positive influence to suggest he deserved to be in the first 11. When Marouane Chamakh scored, after good work from Tomas Rosicky in the seventh minute, most thought the Moroccan would take centre stage. 

One right footed curler outside the box, a looping header and composed penalty later and Bendter takes home the match ball. His goals were executed with confidence, a cool head and precision. Three traits you would usually associate with the Gunners main talisman Robin van Persie.

Arsenal have Bendtner's fantastic 61st minute strike against Ipswich Town, in the Carling Cup semifinal, to thank for their appearance in the final too. Jack Wilshere made an inch-perfect long pass to Bendtner on the far left wing, from there he cut inside and blasted a curling shot to the far right post.

That goal signified not only a long awaited breakthrough in Ipswich's defence but also a long awaited appearance in a cup final. Bendtner made that possible.

In the final months of last season, when Arsenal were barely clinging onto the chance to win the Premier League, Bendtner's goals in the absence of Robin van Persie kept the Gunners title hopes alive. In hindsight, of course, all of this was in vain; but the fact of the matter is, without the Dane's goals, then the Gunners would have gone out of the title race much earlier, and maybe even missed a top-four finish.

He even managed to open the scoring against Barcelona in last season’s UEFA Champions League Quarter final to give Arsenal fans just a glimmer of hope, before Lionel Messi stole the show.

With so many key fixtures coming thick and fast for Arsenal over the coming weeks, such as Barcelona (a) in the UEFA Champions League last 16 second leg tie, Manchester United (a) in the FA Cup semi-final and every league game from now on a must win, Arsenal have a glorious chance to stamp their authority on world football.

Van Persie will be missed greatly, Wenger gives him four weeks to recover, therefore Arsenal's attack is resting on the form of Bendtner. If he can repeat his goal scoring form this time last year then the Gunners will surely be victorious.