What is an Arsenal striker? I'm not talking about a forward or an attacking player. I'm not talking about the likes of Kanu or Bergkamp who link the play.

I'm talking about the main goal getters. The ones who get the bulk of the goals and the team struggles to find a way to score when they're not in it.

Lets have a look over the last 15 or so years shall we? Starting with...

Alan smith.

Yes, Alan smith, the two time First Division top scorer who was only ever booked once in his entire career, which included moments such as getting the winning goal in the Cup Winners Cup Final against Parma and scoring against Liverpool in the famous 0-2 win at Anfield.

He was a striker suited to the kick and rush, boring, boring longball football that was the essence of the english top flight during the late 80's.

He was good in the air and good on the ground. A sort of a C.Ronaldo of his time, but with a bit less pace, not much of the attitude and absolutely none of the flair.

Alan Smith was an Arsenal striker. The fans loved him and he delivered what he was asked. His style fit the style of the team and he finished his career with the Gunners having won a Double and a European trophy.

But who could replace such a big player for Arsenal? Who could come in and to the difficult job of getting the goals and pushing the likes of Liverpool for the FIrst Division Championship? In the end Arsenal turned to a player named...

Ian Wright.

The electric pace. The sharp shooter accuracy. The goals game after game after game.

Wright pretty much wore his heart on his sleeve, and was known for even celebrating his training ground goals. Not only was he an Arsenal player, but he was one of Arsenal's biggest fans. His goal celebrations and hyperactive character won supporters over from almost the first time he stepped onto the pitch in an Arsenal shirt.

Big moments in his career include breaking the clubs goal scoring record and being part of the Double winning side of 97-98.

Then eventually, as Wright began to lose his pace and the goals started to dry up, Arsenal needed a new striker. There was almost a sense of resignation that finding someone who could fill Wrights boots could take years, such was the impact he had made on the club.

Then along came a young winger who had struggled to get off of the Juve subs bench called...

Thierry Henry.

Even though he was never officially recognised with an award, Thierry was probably the first Arsenal player to be considered the best player in the world.

A World Cup and European Championship winner. He also won the Double with Arsenal in 2002 and captained the team to the Champions League Final in 2006.

His pace, sharp finishing and link up play with Vieira and Pires helped him break Ian Wright's goal record on his way to a total of 226 goals in 369 games (including 83 assists).

But being considered one of the best players in the world means that the best clubs are always knocking on your door, and eventually, Thierry left for Barcelona with the expectation of being able to write his name down in football history along with the biggest names.

So there you have it.

This is what any new front man has to try and improve upon.

These are the kind of things that an Arsenal striker needs to have.

These are the kind of abilities and records that Arsenal fans expect, no, demand the next main striker to have and make.

Just 'working your socks off' is not good enough if you give the ball away with one out of every two passes.

Missing 'sitters' is ok, I'm sure even Pele and Maradona did that, but missing 2 or 3 easy chances in almost every game is not.

So who will be the next Arsenal striker?

Who will be the one to eclipse what Thierry achieved and take the team forward?

Adebayor?

Certainly not from what he's shown so far.

Theo?

We won't know until he's given a run as a striker.

Carlos Vela?

My hunch is that he'll play more out wide than he does as a striker.

David Villa?

Maybe he's just too expensive.

Where do I start?

Well first of all, I've discovered that there is a media conspiracy against Arsenal.

Not only have the BBC pundits, well known for their badly disguised dislike of Arsenal (minus Mr Dixon), been writing off Arsenal all season, but they are now joined by almost the entire Rupert Murdoch media empire.

Lets get this straight

These days football is about making money.

Sky have made an absolute fortune out of football. I can't imaging that the majority of its customers subscribe so that they can watch crappy programs that they can download for free or constant re-runs of 6 month old films for weeks on end.

Sky is the USA of television and Setanta, Virgin Media and ITV are the 'axis of evil'.

You can forget about any favourable reporting of Arsenal from any Rupert Murdoch owned media source for the foreseeable future.

Why?

Because Arsenal have joined Setanta in Making Arsenal TV.

Which means that every good word about Arsenal on Sky is free advertising for a Setanta Channel. ( If you want to see this brilliant club, the best place is on Setanta, right? )

Which also helps Virgin Media

Which means that Rupert Murdoch loses money...


...I don't think he likes the idea of losing money.

Am I being Paranoid?

I don't think so. Even Cesc has come out and said that he'd noticed that the media seemed to be happy every time Arsenal lost.

You're not wrong Cesc, you're not wrong at all.

The majority of the media are now desperate for Arsenal to fail spectacularly for two reasons.

1. Because of the above mentioned move with Setanta
2. Because most, if not all of the pundits that they pay salaries to wrote Arsenal off from day 1.

At the beginning of the season, if you believed the hype, Arsenal would be struggling to get into 5th place right about now and Man Utd and Chelsea would be about 10 points ahead of 3rd and 4th placed Liverpool and Tottenham!

Most so-called Arsenal fans seem to be totally oblivious to this.

I keep seeing stupid comments and posts on blogs talking about how badly Arsenal are doing and that it's all Arsene's fault for being too stubborn to spend tens of millions of pounds on 'galactico's'.

These people have lost the plot.

Not only have they fallen for the media conspiracy, but they've forgotten exactly where the club is and where it should be.

People seem to have forgotten that it was Arsene who pushed for the Emirates move.

Without that, Arsenal would almost certainly still be at Highbury with the mid range gate receipts that it provided.

There was a reason that Arsenal struggled to pay a wage of more that £60,000 a week while others were offering £100,000, and it's largely due to the stadium.

So basically, even if Arsenal got a combined bid of £200m for the worlds best players accepted, most of them probably wouldn't join because of the wages on offer.

So you could say... No Arsene = No Emirates = No big wages = No world class signings anyway!!

So all of the people who think that Arsene doesn't know what he's doing clearly don't know what they're talking about.

These are probably the same people who said that Henry was a waste of money who couldn't finish and that we needed a proven striker like Dion Dublin.

If they want big money signings every summer, they should go and support Liverpool.

Liverpool have Torres and Mascherano (two players Arsenal 'fans' moan about missing out on), and where are they?

Battling it out for 4th place with Everton, thats where.

Where are Arsenal?

Still on the heels of Man Utd and in with a chance of being champions, that's where.

Don't believe the media conspiracy.

This time next week, Arsenal could be 3 points behind Man Utd in second place and awaiting a Champions League Semi Final against Fenerbahce.

Not bad for a team on such a 'terrible' run.

If Arsenal win the a trophy this season, it will probably be the best trophy that the club has won since 1989, because almost everyone is against the team.