Arsenal's Champions League Chances Will Depend on Gunners Finding Attacking Form

The full announcement of Arsenal's Champions League squad will surely not bring any real surprises. After a quiet transfer deadline day, the Gunners roster is an entirely known quantity. Their success in European competition will be dependent on how they perform, not whom they select.

If they are to break the habit of falling at the first hurdle in the knockout stage, Arsenal's attacking play must improve. Although it's usually their defending that costs them—last season's exit was due to a calamitous display in the home leg against Monaco—this season, it is Arsenal's forward line that are providing cause for concern.

Arsenal have scored just three goals in their first four Premier League games, and two of those were diverted into the net by an opposition player. Despite the array of attacking talent available to manager Arsene Wenger, Arsenal's top scorer is currently "own goal." A once-fluent attacking system is struggling to find gear.

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That might be explained by Alexis Sanchez's rustiness. The Chilean was Arsenal's key attacking player last season, enjoying a spectacular debut year in English football. Even when Arsenal's collective game failed to function, he had the individual quality to make the breakthrough. However, having been rushed back into action after his post-Copa America break, Alexis looks some way short of the player who terrorised defences in 2014/15. He is still looking for his first goal of the season, having missed a number of presentable opportunities.

He hasn't become a poor finisher overnight, so his struggles can only be explained by his relative lack of match practise. Wenger will hope he is able to find the net sooner rather than later, as his confidence and conviction in front of goal will surely improve.

Another problem with Arsenal's attacking play is the uncertainty over the centre-forward role. Many supporters were hoping for a new arrival in this area, but a signing was not forthcoming. Instead, Wenger is currently alternating between Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott as his main striker.

The problem is they are almost polar opposites as strikers. Giroud's game is based around intelligent hold-up play and aerial ability, whereas Walcott lacks both those attributes but is blessed with explosive pace. Until Wenger decides which of those two forwards will regularly fill the centre-forward berth, it will be difficult for the team to develop a coherent attacking system and rhythm of play.

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There is another candidate for the role, of course: By the time the Champions League gets underway, Danny Welbeck ought to have returned to full training. Arguably, Welbeck combines some of the best attributes of both Giroud and Walcott; he has good upper-body strength, smart movement and real speed.

The one area of his game that needs work is his finishing, but he did demonstrate his European credentials with a stunning hat-trick against Galatasaray in last season's competition. In away games, his remarkable work rate is a huge asset. It's possible Welbeck could edge out Walcott and Giroud as an all-round alternative for use in the Champions League.

With difficult opposition in Bayern Munich, Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb, Arsenal must be more efficient in the final third if they are to make it out of the group stage, let alone make it any further. Unusually, it is their attacking rather than their defending that is coming under scrutiny.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.