Saturday, December 30

Can Arnie make it into double figures for goals?

Marco Arnautovic has scored five goals in the last five games, a strike rate bettered by only Harry Kane. Clearly Moyes is doing something right to get the best out of Arnie. It was good management to change his position, moving him into a central striking role where he sees much more of the ball, while still being able to drift wide and get crosses in. Moyes has also simplified things for the complicated Arnautovic, telling him that if he doesn't run he won't play. 

Arnie is a difficult character. He grew up in a tough district of Vienna and was known as the "bad boy of Austrian football." As we saw at Stoke he's not afraid of a confrontation. Maybe he just needed a bit of tough love. 

If Arnie can keep scoring at this rate he might enjoy his most successful ever scoring spree in the Premier League. In his four seasons at Stoke he scored a best of 11 goals in 2015-16, totalling four, one, and six goals in his other seasons. Six in a season was his biggest tally at Werder Bremen. If he could get into double figures this season it would be quite a transformation.

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