Arsenal’s new kid on the block is being compared to Henry
The shift from winger to centre-forward is a well-trodden path atArsenal. Following Thierry Henry’s arrival at the club in August 1999, the then-winger was quickly pushed inwards under Arsene Wenger’s instruction. The new kid on the block may have needed some persuasion, as Wenger admitted to on Friday, but Henry soon obliged. The rest, they say, is history. Racking up a total of 175 goals, Henry established himself as the club’s all-time top goal-scorer.
While Alexis Sanchez certainly has some way to go to emulate Henry’s feats, the Chilean is slowly starting to draw a number of parallels with the icon.
Like Henry, Sanchez has similarly been pushed in off the wing and entrusted with the responsibility of leading Arsenal’s front line. And like Henry, Sanchez is now thriving in the position. With a total of 13 goals to his name this season, alongside seven assists, the forward is in irresistible form.
Not that the transformation has been easy. It’s required a degree of trial and error, as Wenger confessed in his prematch post conference ahead of his side’s game against Stoke.
“You see the guy who plays wide can score goals that he can in the centre score even more goals,” he said. “I saw always in Sanchez and I must honestly say I thought many times when I played him last year or two years ago I was wrong.
“Because the few experiences I attempted with him through the middle were not convincing and I remember even in one game [Everton, 2014] I changed it at half time.
“This year it clicked very early in the season.”
Indeed. Sanchez has gone from strength to strength this term, firing the Gunners to impressive victories on both the domestic and European stage. The player has already bagged three braces this season and most recently hit a hat-trick at the London Stadium to help condemn West Ham to a humiliating 5-1 defeat.
With 11 domestic goals under his belt, Sanchez currently stands as the Premier League’s top goal-scorer alongside Diego Costa. THE INDEPENDENT