Arsenal FC: Why Nicklas Bendtner Is More Effective on the Wing

Following his second hat-trick for Arsenal in as many seasons, Nicklas Bendtner has some reason to be cocky and arrogant. It might have been only against lowly Leyton Orient, but the treble will do the big Dane the world of good, especially to his over-inflated ego.

Bendtner, who Arsenal fans have grown accustomed to seeing miss sitters, was clinical in front of goal and put on a performance that will delight his manager, Arsene Wenger.

It was clear from the outset that both Marouane Chamakh and Nicklas Bendtner had a lot to prove. After all, a place in the starting lineup against the mighty Barcelona was up for grabs, and based on this performance, it might just be Bendtner who starts against the world’s finest.

Behind the façade of arrogance, it has always been extremely evident that Bendtner is a supremely talented individual with an exceptional future ahead of him. Last season, he saved Arsenal's blushes on numerous occasions, scoring 12 goals in the season and doing his best to minimize the loss of Robin van Persie.

This season, however, Bendtner has found it increasingly difficult to find regular playing time with the signing of Marouane Chamakh and the return of Robin van Persie.

Arsene Wenger has instead decided to use Bendtner on the wings this season and so far it's been fairly successful. The Arsenal manager has stated that the Dane can take the opposite route to Thierry Henry—go from playing as a striker to playing as a winger. While Bendtner has expressed his desire to continue to play as a centre forward, the position on the wing has helped bring out the best in him.

Even in the match against Leyton Orient on Wednesday, Arsene Wenger utilized Bendtner on the wing while Chamakh started up front as the lone striker.

When Bendtner has played as a lone striker this season, he's struggled. In the matches against Ipswich (first leg), Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga, Bendtner started as the lone striker and in all three matches struggled to impose himself. Arsenal, of course, went onto lose all three matches scoring just one goal along the way.

But that doesn't mean that he always struggles as the lone striker.

Last season, when he played up front alone, he was extremely successful—scoring 11 goals in the absence of van Persie. He was particularly on fire during the end of the season, when he scored several important goals to win several important games for Arsenal.

In the previous season, after an earlier injury to van Persie, Bendtner again had to step up for the Gunners and again rose to the occasion. He played admirably and scored several vital goals against the likes of Stoke, Hull and Barcelona.

Bendtner’s natural position is as a striker—but with both van Persie and Chamakh already there, he'll find it difficult to hold onto a regular position. He might have eclipsed Chamakh in recent weeks, but when Chamakh is confident, he's a better player and is more consistent as he showed in the early parts of the season.

So now Wenger has started utilizing Bendtner out on the right wing—and so far it's reaped rich rewards. He's scored nine goals this season. Out of those nine, seven of them have come when either Chamakh or van Persie has played up front. In the presence of these two strikers, he has been forced to move into the wings.

But despite this change, he has got into several good goalscoring positions and has showed great movement and positional sense.

He has found several good goalscoring opportunities and developed a knack of cutting inside from the left and slotting it past the goalkeeper. He has drifted into the left and is holding up the ball extremely well. Despite starting on the wings he is becoming a real goalscoring threat. He has started to link-up with his teammates very well. Playing on the wing, Bendtner has showed that he has got both the pace and skill to get past defenders and is a good dribbler of the ball. In the match against Leyton Orient and in the Carling Cup final, he got into great positions and had a sizeable impact on the game.

But he is not just scoring all the goals, he is also creating them. He has put some great balls into the box—most notably against Leeds United and Leyton Orient. This season he has already managed six assists.

But even if he does make a more permanent move to the wings, he is still in no way guaranteed a starting position. He will face stiff competition from the likes of Walcott, Arshavin and Nasri—all three of them are more likely to start ahead of the Dane.

But Wenger has the option of using Walcott and Arshavin as impact substitutes, while maybe starting the Dane. If Bendtner can keep up his recent performance level, Wenger may just ponder using him more regularly than he has done recently, especially in the absence of Robin van Persie.

But in the absence of van Persie and Chamakh, Bendtner can always revert back to his position as the central striker. His new-found versatility will prove key to the Gunners, especially considering Arsenal’s recent injury woes as several key players have fallen prey to injury once again.

When Arsenal take on Barcelona next week, Robin van Persie will be absent with a knee injury. This means that either Bendtner or Chamakh will start. Bendtner’s recent goalscoring exploits would have done him the world of good and it is most likely that he will get the nod ahead of Chamakh. Right now, Bendtner is in much better form and Chamakh is still not back to his best yet.

The positional change seems to have done Bendtner no harm but instead it has reaped rich dividends for the team and for the highly talented player himself.