Emmanuel Petit struggles with math

Arsenal currently sit in a tie with Manchester City atop the Premier League table. Coming off their sixth straight victory, there are plenty of reasons to feel confident in the team’s title credentials. Of course, they’ve been there before and have seen their challenges sputter rather than remain strong until the end.

Which is why it is not a surprise to hear doubts over the ability of this current squad and must be the reason for ex-Gunner Emmanuel Petit say this:

"Even though I love Arsenal and Arsene, I try to stay objective, they never quite satisfy me, and they often frustrate me.

"As long as Arsenal don't have a striker who scores 40 goals a season like Aguero does at Manchester City ... That's what you need in any league: a striker who is one of the best in the world."

Now, far be it from me to be upset when a former player or Arsenal fan tries to be objective and ends up perhaps a little more negative than they should. I, myself, have come down pretty hard on the team, the manager, individual players for a number of reasons. But I like to think, when being objective, criticisms could stay to the facts.

Like how Sergio Aguero, as great as he is, has never scored more than 32 goals in all competitions in a given season. Or that no one in the Premier League did last year. Or that the best tallies in all competitions for an English based team have been players like Thierry Henry at 39 goals or Didier Drogba at 37 goals.

It’d be nice to have a 40 goal scorer. Heck, it’d be bloody fabulous to clone Thierry Henry and have that back again even if he’s never broken the 40 goal mark, ever. But unless Arsenal are up for Leonal Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Robert Lewandowski, they’re not going to have that top 40 goal-a-year striker. Which is to say they are not going to have a 40 goal-a-year striker.

For even they were searching, remember what Gonzalo Higuain, he of 38 goals last year, went for on the transfer market: A Granit Xhaka + a Shkodran Mustafi + a Lucas Perez.