Danny Welbeck seemed like ‘the real deal’ last night as Arsenal sealed a glorious victory over Galatasaray. A lot of pundits are already seeing the likelihood of him becoming the next ‘Henry’ for Arsenal but it is too early for such praises. One thing that is for sure is that the boy is gradually proving to be value for money and is gradually becoming a formidable striker.
Just four days ago, Welbeck was criticised for his performance against Tottenham, only for his blushes to be spared by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Clinical finishing was something Louis Van Gaal and a few United fans thought he couldn’t do yet Danny looked very much like a reliable matching-winning striker last night. He may be off and running for Arsenal but he is still a long way from making United fans regret his departure.
Galatasaray had no answer to Welbeck’s running off the shoulder of the last man and his finishing, so often his weakness, was world class on the night. He had this match won for Arsenal inside 30 minutes with an outstanding display which trumped his goal shy reputation.
Arsenal did not need rescuing here because Galatasaray were poor. They were three goals down in 40 minutes, four within the hour and it would have been more had Felipe Melo got the red card for a bad tackle made on Alexis Sanchez after 35 minutes.
Ultimately, the only red card went to an Arsenal player, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny sent-off, for charging from goal and bringing down Burak Yilmas, a rush that was highly unnecessary. This gave debuty goalkeeper David Ospina a chance to shine, he made a few useful saves in the 30 minutes that remained, Yilmaz scored Galatasaray’s penalty to reduce Arsenal’s four-goal advantage.
Despite being a man down, Arsenal still kept control of the game and took all three points.