The Danish striker's hat-trick against Leyton Orient puts him in pole position to fill the void caused by Robin van Persie's injury
When Arsène Wenger relates "bad news" about an Arsenal injury and suggests that he will be out for "the next three weeks, for sure", seasoned watchers of the manager tend to double the estimate. Especially when the player is Robin van Persie.
Whenever Arsenal lose the injury-prone Dutchman, it hurts but the pain is compounded this time around. Van Persie had been in supreme touch and the fixtures keep getting tastier.
The Champions League return against Barcelona at Camp Nou looms next Tuesday and the club now have an FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United on Saturday week.
This fifth-round replay against League One Leyton Orient had a low-key feel, although not for the 9,000 travelling fans, who watched their team flicker briefly in the early running. But for Arsenal's stand-in strikers, it represented an audition. Marouane Chamakh and Nicklas Bendtner had claims to press.
It might have irked Bendtner that Chamakh, left, got the nod as the central striker, with him being asked to forage from the right. Bendtner has said on many occasions that he is not comfortable on the flank. He would hate for his greater versatility to count against him. Yet the Dane was undeterred as he went about upstaging Chamakh.
His hat-trick performance featured some of the usual foibles that can, on other days, infuriate the crowd. But his goals were of the highest order, particularly the second, which he curled with dead-eyed precision from 20 yards, having popped up on the left. He embraced his licence to roam. His 30th-minute leap and headed finish were ripped from the pages of the old-fashioned No 9's manual.
Bendtner scored at Camp Nou last season, as Arsenal threatened to pull off a famous upset before they were taken apart and he is the favourite to start ahead of Chamakh.
The Moroccan, who arrived last summer from Bordeaux, began his Arsenal career in encouraging style. He had 11 goals in all competitions by the end of November but, until this game, he had not scored since.
He admitted a few weeks ago that "by the start of January, I had completely lost my edge" and he added that he was benefiting from being taken out of the firing line.
Bendtner might never lack confidence but Chamakh looked tentative here, too measured in his passing, as though fearful of making a mistake.
There was a period in the first-half when all of his lay-offs went awry and this was after he had enjoyed the tonic of steering home the opening goal to end his three-month long scoring drought. He was hustled off the ball all too readily by Orient's centre-halves and the cobwebs remain.
Despite the comfort of the evening, the crowd expressed their frustration at his sloppiness. It felt significant that Wenger withdrew Bendtner but kept Chamakh on for the full 90 minutes. Wenger sorely needs his supporting cast to step up as the matches come thick and fast and the injuries mount, particularly the muscle strains. Tomas Rosicky became the latest casualty when he was helped off after 62 minutes with mild concussion.
Wenger had missed seven players at the outset due to various ailments. One of them, Cesc Fábregas, who has a hamstring problem, said that he was "running, getting better and not sensing any pain at the moment". Wenger said the midfielder would not feature against Sunderland on Saturday but, to Fábregas's mind, there is no doubt about Barcelona.
Wenger, though, painted a less than optimistic picture about the defender Thomas Vermaelen, the long-term achilles absentee. "We have to be patient," he said. "I don't want to put him under any pressure and anyway, we are in March now and he has not played since September so it will take him a while to get back to a competitive level."
Bendtner is at his level. Chamakh labours.
Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 2 Mar 11
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