Arsenal: Danny Welbeck Completes Speedy, New-Look Attacking Corps

Arsenal concluded a hectic summer of transfer dealings late Monday night by finalising a £16 million deal for Manchester United's England international and hometown talent, Danny Welbeck, per BBC Sport.  The North West native's addition rounds off a new-look attacking corps that on paper looks to be full of speed, agility and power that could pose a prominent threat to any defense in the league.

Welbeck finds himself at the Emirates Stadium after an unhappy ending to his career at his boyhood club saw him disillusioned with the David Moyes style of management.  With first-team chances at a premium under Louis van Gaal as well, Arsene Wenger will surely offer Welbeck regular first-team football in his preferred centre-forward role—a truly tantalising prospect for Arsenal fans.

Though Welbeck might not be the blockbuster name that some Arsenal followers may have been dreaming of before deadline day, his qualities and attributes should enable him to fit harmoniously into Wenger's footballing philosophy.

Among the most destructive facets of Welbeck's play are his constant pressing on defenses, his work rate and vitally his pace, to name but a few.  It's the latter, however, that ought to let him truly shine in the Arsenal attack.

Cast your minds back to last season, and Arsenal fans might reminisce about an attack that, when Theo Walcott was cruelly plucked from it due to injury, was devoid of blistering pace and had to rely on sheer will and determination married with pinpoint passing to outsmart defenders.  This resulted in just 68 league goals last campaign, over 30 less than free-scoring champions Manchester City and their nearest rivals Liverpool.

The same pattern has threatened to rear its head early this season, with a return of only six goals in the last five games in all competitions—until now.

Now, Wenger finds himself with several options at his disposal, many of which possess a crucial element to revitalise Arsenal's attack—the elusive burst of speed.

Welbeck joins fellow new addition Alexis Sanchez, a proficient and swift attacking threat, as well as Costa Rican attacker Joel Campbell, also famed for the velocity in his movement.  Factor in the effervescent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as well as the soon-to-be-returning Walcott, and the Arsenal manager possesses a plethora of options to put opponents to the sword.

Implementing these players might take a little time and will require some tactical overhauls to truly extract the best from both the personnel and the system.  There can be few arguments that it won't be worth it, however.

Pace, agility and power are just three key ingredients a top centre-forward or winger can utilise to beat defenders—Arsenal know this all too well, seeing how efficiently they were undone by Romelu Lukaku, the architect of Everton's second goal at Goodison Park just over a week ago.

Previously, Arsenal relied solely on Olivier Giroud as their go-to option at centre-forward.  The Frenchman has experienced bundles of success in this role, employing his famous hold-up play and his strength to create opportunities for his colleagues and aim to score on the turn.

While this brought the Gunners some success time and again last campaign, the system has become stale and predictable, and opposition defenses have caught on. 

Against Everton, where Arsenal conceded two simple goals in a dire first half, the attack consisted mostly of a succession of passes in and around the Toffees' penalty area, seeking only for the killer pass or a clever but complicated barrage of one-touch passes to bamboozle Everton's centre-backs.  For the most part, it didn't work, and that's just one example of the system's unsuccessful employment.

This profligacy spread to Arsenal's counter-attacks as well.  When an opening for a counter-attack was found, Arsenal's midfielders would often burst forward with the ball, only to waste the numbers advantage gained by slowing the play and waiting for that killer pass, allowing the opposing defense to shore up with numbers and positioning.

With Welbeck alongside his new colleagues, both Arsenal's current style of attack, as well as how teams prepare for it, should be a thing of the past.

With an alacritous centre-forward in Welbeck, as well as pace in support from the flanks from any combination of Alexis, Walcott, Campbell or Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsenal are now capable of truly threatening from the counter-attack. 

Welbeck's anticipation will allow him to latch onto a cutting through ball from one of his colleagues while the opposing full-backs are still rushing back after being caught upfield.  Alternatively, Mesut Ozil will have a field day finding targets who are willing and absolutely capable of beating stationary defenders with fizzing runs to zip behind and knock in the goals.

Welbeck's goalscoring record as a Red Devil, per transfermarkt, might not make the most enticing of reading, but consider the large number of substitute appearances Welbeck made over his United career, as well as the fact large swathes of that time were spent exiled to the left wing, and the numbers make more sense.

Given time fronting a new-look Gunners attack, full of venomous urgency, Welbeck might just find himself dramatically improving on those numbers.  Surrounded by players who share his acceleration, as well as those with unrivalled vision and proficient passing, Welbeck comes to Arsenal to front an attack that has the potential and the capability to shell-shock their opponents.

Time will tell if the system will prove as dangerous as its potential might allow, but in theory, Wenger has all the tools to blitz virtually every defence in the Premier League.