Arsenal Need a More Efficient Striker to Complete Journey to the Title

Thierry Henry was right about one thing in his barely-less-than-hysterical rant on Sky Sports' Super Sunday (h/t SkySports.com), after Arsenal drew 0-0 with Chelsea to all but condemn the Gunners to another season as Premier League bridesmaids.

Arsenal do need another striker.

Specifically, the Gunners need a more efficient striker to complete their journey to a first Premier League title since 2004. It's a journey further along than many would have you believe.

After years of losing top stars summer after summer and making sacrifices to pay down stadium debt, the Gunners are as strong as they've been since that last title win. You may not agree or like it, but it's a fact, so live with it.

Arsene Wenger has painstakingly retooled a threadbare squad that was a whisker away from losing its top-four status around 2011 into a deep, balanced squad. Arsenal now possess ample options in defence, midfield and attack.

But numbers don't always imply quality. Nowhere in this squad is that more true than along the forward line.

How could it be when primary centre-forwards Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck are both unrefined as finishers? When Theo Walcott is now nothing more than a marginalised figure?

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It's not that any of them are bad players, although Welbeck does occasionally send a writer searching for polite versions of the phrase. Yet the real question is: Are either of those players good enough to spearhead a title-winning season?

In particular, will they ever be efficient enough to decide the close games, the tough games, the big games?

That's a relevant question to ask after the goalless stalemate with Chelsea. It's not worth asking just because the Gunners couldn't break down a typically stingy Blues rearguard.

Chelsea gaffer Jose Mourinho was at his pragmatic best (or worst, more accurately) in setting up for and succeeding in earning a 0-0 draw. Now the fault for Arsenal's drawing a blank doesn't lie solely with Giroud and Welbeck.

It is, after all, worth noting that any team can struggle and even fail to score against opponents who are packing numbers behind the ball. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying that the Gunners couldn't find the net for a rare time at the Emirates Stadium.

The bigger issue was how Arsenal approached the game.

A greater willingness to play with more caution and structural integrity has been a hallmark of the Gunners' excellent run in 2015. It's how Arsenal won at Manchester City, won at Manchester United and weren't, for a rare occasion recently, picked off on the break by Chelsea.

But while there's a danger of becoming too pragmatic, playing closer to the vest does demand one thing above all else: efficiency up front.

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If you're going to play a more restricted game, you're naturally going to create fewer chances. So it's imperative to take the few you get, or at least one of them.

That requires a true finisher, a quicker forward who comes alive when there's even a glimpse of goal. Neither description truthfully applies to Giroud or Welbeck.

But that's what the Gunners need if they're going to successfully marry their big-game pragmatism with winning results. An unerring finish was all that was missing from the game with Chelsea.

It didn't help that Giroud and Welbeck failed to look remotely dangerous, a familiar story from big games. Both struggle to pose even a credible threat to a top side's goal.

So what, or more specifically, who, is the answer? Well, that depends. It depends on the type of striker Wenger wants to lead the line.

One with more pace would be a start. Giroud, for all his superb link play and aerial prowess, will never be quick enough to stretch a defence as tight and compact as Chelsea's was.

Welbeck is, but you should never count on the ex-Manchester United man to make the most of any chance. Giroud's gotten better in that area, but no matter how many goals he scores, it's always easy to look back at the many misses he should have converted.

If Wenger wants the best of both worlds, perhaps he'll go in for Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain, the player Arsenal should've signed two years ago. He's a brilliant No. 9, quick enough to outrun defenders, powerful enough to hold them off and possessing all the qualities of a first-rate finisher.

Or maybe Wenger will revert to type and opt for the kind of striker his best teams once made their focal point. Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry were the template: pacy, clever, fluid and creative.

One forward who ticks all those boxes is Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette. Citing unnamed reports in Italy (likely CalcioMercato.com), Ben Jefferson of the Daily Express suggests Arsenal will pay £22 million for the Frenchman.

Lacazette has enjoyed a real breakthrough season. He's scored 30 goals in all competitions this season, including 26 in Ligue 1, according to WhoScored.com.

One other intriguing option is Javier Hernandez. He's a natural finisher with a poacher's instinct, excellent short-area quickness and Premier League experience.

The on-loan Real Madrid ace is also still out of favour with parent club Manchester United, specifically boss Louis van Gaal, according to Metro.uk's Louis Sealey. Having rolled the dice on Welbeck, Arsenal could score big by handing a second chance to another United fringe forward.

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The bottom line is that the Gunners need a more efficient striker, one who can be counted on to take the scant chances that come a team's way in the biggest games against the best teams.

Only then will Wenger's necessary shift in approach, selective though it is, be rewarded with the type of wins that earn titles.