Friday night’s game may not have been particularly testing for England, but it was a good performance and a convincing win. Obviously there were numerous high points for the Three Lions, but the form in an England shirt of Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck is surely high on the list. Though his injury ruling him out for the Italy game, and also for his club, is a low.

The Gunners striker has six goals in five qualifiers and heads the scoring charts in the competition.

He has led the line, played as part of a strike partnership and has featured out wide, but he has managed to find the net with a staggering regularity – including both goals in the victory away to Switzerland, and two goals in a 3-1 win against Slovenia. So his goals have been important for England.

But this hasn’t been the case this season when he’s been wearing an Arsenal shirt.

He started very brightly indeed, and was at one point hailed as the new Thierry Henry. It was obvious he was going to fade after that, no player can live up to that billing, and certainly not at Arsenal – a club where Henry, a living legend, has been immortalised with his own statue outside the stadium.

That comparison has maybe put a little too much pressure on the young striker, and he certainly hasn’t managed to find the net as well for Arsenal as he has for England – something he was also criticised for in his time at Manchester United.

The explosive start-of-season form shown by Alexis Sanchez and the prolific strike rate from Olivier Giroud have outshone Welbeck since his peak this season, which seemed to come in October/November.

Yet in an England shirt, we’re seeing a different player.

Welbeck has consistently looked dangerous as part of the England attack, which now possesses the pace of Welbeck and Raheem Sterling, the trickiness and skill of Daniel Sturridge, the tenacity and eye for both goals and passes provided by Wayne Rooney and now what looks like the Midas touch of Harry Kane.

Welbeck himself is a versatile player. He is able to play up front or wide. But his versatility is also manifested in his ability to link up so well with all of these players.

At Arsenal, Welbeck can play in an attack featuring pace, skill and prolific finishing, with Sanchez, Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott, with lots of creativity in behind.

Arsenal also have these options, but Walcott and Chamberlain have both been out injured for much of the season. So in theory, it has been Sanchez who has provided the explosiveness and skill, Giroud the finishing and Wellbeck the pace.

The England man has proven that he can work well in this arrangement, and although he hasn’t been finishing the chances, he’s certainly played his part in lots of games this season, and also provided Arsenal with extra pace to use on the counter.

But he’s not the focal point of the team. He’s a link-up player at the Emirates at the moment, as he always had been at United.

He’s been criticised for his lack of goalscoring, but it’s never been up to him to provide that for his team, except in the absence of Giroud, when he was played up front, and managed to draw comparisons with Henry.

In an England shirt, though, he does have to provide goals.

Wayne Rooney may be edging closer to becoming England’s top scorer, and he’ll surely get there. And although Rooney has scored goals this campaign, as captain he has other responsibilities. Rooney has also never been a player noted simply for his goalscoring. He scores lots – clearly – but he provides so much more to the team.

This campaign, Welbeck has been an important player for England, and Hodgson has put his faith in the Arsenal man. Without him against Italy, England still have options to use, and that’s the beauty of this pool of English players, but Harry Kane will have to step into Welbeck’s shoes and provide the goals.

Arsenal just have too many stars for Welbeck to shine as resplendent as he does in England white, but if Wenger puts his faith in Welbeck, and makes him the focal point for goals, then maybe the Henry comparisons could become apt. Or maybe Wenger can just give him an England shirt to wear underneath his Arsenal one.

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