Goodbye Eduardo and The Daily Mail Wind-Up

So Eduardo has left us for pastures anew and I suppose you can't help but wonder what might of been if he hadn't suffered the trauma, mentally as well as physically, of that tackle from Martin Taylor.

Before I move on to what it means for the squad I must mention the The Daily Mail's cruel and not very classy take on the transfer. Sure you can say his time at Arsenal was ill-fated but, in my opinion, to call Eduardo a flop is inaccurate and to compare him to the likes of Baptista (who was just plain lazy) is a disgrace.

Anyway, where does the Arsenal frontline go from here? I had hoped, that this could open a door for Jay Simpson to return to the squad because he is a goal-poacher. He's not necessarily in the Eduardo mould but he certainly knows where the goal is. But unfortunately if he was in Wenger's plans he would have been on the plane to Austria since Eduardo's transfer had been sanctioned by then.

With Eduardo gone, we have striking options consisting of RVP, Chamakh, Bendtner, Vela, JET, Walcott (maybe) and Arshavin (emergency). Looking at those you have to ask yourself: 'unless RVP stays fit, who's going to get us 25+ goals this season?'

Chamakh is unknown and its unfair to expect anymore than maybe 15 goals in the season from him. A tally most of us would be satisfied with. Bendtner certainly has the confidence and did target a high tally last year but injury ended that ambition. He has the potential but consistency might be a problem. Vela seems to play his best on the international stage but I still expect big things from him and I think we have the right to expect him to deliver because the fact is Vela has had an easy ride at Arsenal so far .But whether his potential will be fulfilled as a striker or a winger remains to be seen.

Potential tallies and individual prospects aside, the one thing about the frontline that bothers me is the lack of a 'fox in the box', a player in the mould of Kevin Philips or Filippo Inzaghi. But maybe I'm old fashioned in my youth! I think I'll discuss the role of the striker tomorrow maybe. But who do you think will supply the goals this season?

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