Can Chamakh keep Arsenal’s season alive?

Whatever happened to Marouane Chamakh? In many respects he was Arsenal’s leading man for the first half of the season, filling in for the injured Robin van Persie and exercising a great deal of composure in doing so.

The Moroccan forward has grabbed 11 goals in all competitions for Arsenal, but the majority of them were netted before Christmas. In fact, it’s been almost seven weeks since Chamakh scored, and even then it was against League One opposition Leyton Orient in the FA Cup quarter-final.

You can hardly blame him for not grabbing a few more goals following the festive season. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has used the 27-year-old rather sparingly and as a result Chamakh hasn’t had the game time necessary to chalk up any further goals. In recent times, particularly in the Premier League, Chamakh has been used predominantly as a substitute and is usually only introduced into the proceedings with 10-15 minutes left on the clock.

As a result, his goals-per-game ratio may look pretty shoddy, as he’s made 40 appearances for the club and only 11 goals – but his goals-per-minute ratio isn’t too bad at all. Given the fact that Arsenal rarely score scrappy, physical goals, I’m surprised that Arsene Wenger has frozen out the Moroccan in such a significant fashion. He may not be the most intimidating figure, but he hounds defenders, forces mistakes and can score the kind of messy goals that Arsenal often need to find in tight games.

I understand that Chamakh’s form took a turn for the worse at around the same time that Robin van Persie’s injury problems began to disappear – but to freeze him out entirely seems a little harsh. To think, a few months ago, Chamakh was talking freely to the Press about how he wanted to be as important to Arsenal as Didier Drogba is to Chelsea. Funny how things change.

When Robin van Persie’s in the kind of form that he’s currently in, he’s completely irreplaceable. I understand his prominence within the team – what frustrates me, however, is the fact that when Wenger does opt for another striker, he seems to favour his big Dane, Nicklas Bendtner. It’s a cause of frustration because Bendtner’s one of the most inconsistent players in the Premier League. Why does he keep getting chances whilst Chamakh keeps getting forgotten?

Chamakh may not be as tall as Bendtner, but he’s a decent header of the ball, has a better first touch and is able to link up with the midfield in a much more productive manner. I understand that he’s been misfiring when he’s been given a chance recently, but if he were handed a run of games in the squad, I’m sure he’d find his shooting boots once more. Like so many in this Arsenal squad, he’s very much a confidence player – once he grabs a couple of goals the floodgates will open and many more will follow.

I imagine that Wenger will stick rigidly to the blueprint he’s been working on over the course of this season. That means Chamakh will be continually sidelined in favour of Nicklas Bendtner. I can’t help but believe, however, that if Arsenal’s forgotten man were called upon, he’d come up with the goods.

Click HERE to see the original article. This article was first published on ThisIsFutbol

Written by Harry Cloke.

You can follow Harry on Twitter @ThePerfectPass