Jamie O’Hara is convinced that Arsenal will not win the league without a striker who scores 25 goals a season.
The Gunners had a perfect start to the 2024/25 season, winning their opening games against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa.
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Mikel Arteta’s side will be looking to win the title at the third consecutive attempt after losing again to Manchester City last year.
But former Tottenham midfielder O’Hara finds it hard to imagine Arsenal doing this without a goal-scoring striker, as they have yet to sign a No.9 player who scores more than 25 goals per season.
Arsenal fan Rich called O’Hara and Jason Cundy to the Sports Bar on Monday night to address the point the former had made on Sky Sports.
“They started saying, ‘Oh, I have some Arsenal fans who think they don’t need a striker who scores 25 goals in a season,'” he said. “Then [you] made the valid point that no team has won the Premier League without one.
“I searched and searched and searched and couldn’t find anyone. I have to give you a big compliment for that.”
He continued: “And I said I didn’t think we would lose to Aston Villa and I still don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t win the league.
“But on the point you made about the striker who scores 25 goals a season… So what I’m saying to you is: if you’re not conceding goals and we’re scoring as many goals as we are, is it necessary for us to get a striker who scores 25 goals?”
O’Hara replied: “My point is the same, Rich, as you just said. Nobody has won the Premier League without one.”
“So the evidence is there at the end of the day. Yes, you score a lot of goals and you could win the Premier League without one.
“But nobody has that!”
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Last season, Bukayo Saka was Arsenal’s top scorer; the winger scored 16 goals in 35 league games.
Meanwhile, Manchester City has snatched the title away from them with a striker with over 25 goals, with Erling Haaland scoring 27 goals in 31 Premier League games.
However, after Sergio Aguero left Man City for Barcelona in 2021 and Haaland joined from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, Pep Guardiola’s team spent an entire season without an absolute number 9.
Kevin De Bruyne was their top scorer with 15 goals as they won the league in 2022. As a team, Man City scored 99 goals, making them the fifth-best team in league history.
In 2020, Liverpool could also rely on the firepower of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané: The winger scored 19 goals, Mané scored 18 goals.
Looking closer, 14 of the last 18 seasons have featured a team with over 20 goal scorers.
Only eight times has a team won the Premier League with a player scoring 25 or more goals.
The top scorers of the Premier League winners
- 92/93 – Manchester United (Eric Cantona/Mark Hughes – 15)
- 93/94 – Manchester United (Eric Cantona – 18)
- 94/95 – Blackburn (Alan Shearer – 34)
- 95/96 – Manchester United (Eric Cantona – 14)
- 96/97 – Man United (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – 18)
- 97/98 – Arsenal (Dennis Bergkamp – 16)
- 98/99 – Manchester United (Dwight Yorke – 18)
- 99/00 – Man United (Dwight Yorke – 20)
- 00/01 – Man United (Teddy Sheringham – 15)
- 01/02 – Arsenal (Thierry Henry – 24)
- 02/03 – Man United (Ruud van Nistelrooy – 25)
- 03/04 – Arsenal (Theirry Henry – 30)
- 04/05 – Chelsea (Frank Lampard – 13)
- 05/06 – Chelsea (Frank Lampard – 16)
- 06/07 – Manchester United (Didier Drogba – 20)
- 07/08 – Man United (Cristiano Ronaldo – 31)
- 08/09 – Man United (Cristiano Ronaldo – 18)
- 09/10 – Chelsea (Didier Drogba – 29)
- 10/11 – Man United (Dimitar Berbatov – 20)
- 11/12 – Man City (Sergio Aguero – 23)
- 12/13 – Man United (Robin van Persie – 26)
- 13/14 – Man City (Yaya Touré – 20)
- 14/15 – Chelsea (Diego Costa – 20)
- 15/16 – Leicester (Jamie Vardy – 24)
- 16/17 – Chelsea (Diego Costa – 20)
- 17/18 – Man City (Sergio Aguero – 21)
- 18/19 – Man City (Sergio Aguero – 21)
- 19/20 – Liverpool (Mo Salah – 19)
- 20/21 – Man City (Ilkay Gundogan – 13)
- 21/22 – Man City (Kevin De Bruyne – 15)
- 22/23 – Man City (Erling Haaland – 36)
- 23/24 – Man City (Erling Haaland – 27)
“When you think about it, it doesn’t exist,” O’Hara said, trying to make the point that teams have always had a player who scores a huge number of goals.[Mohamed] Salah, when Liverpool won, [Ruud] Van Nistlerooy, [Wayne] Rooney, [Carlos] Tevez, [Sergio] Aguero, [Erling] Haaland, [Thierry] “Henry.”
Rich then interjected and said, “Okay, you’ve made your point. I don’t think we need to sign [Ivan] Toney. If we sign this [Victor] Osimhen from Napoli, I don’t know how quickly he would fit into our system and our style of play.
“Maybe we can do it.”
Arsenal have been linked with Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Brentford’s Ivan Toney in their search for a goalscorer.
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But Rich is not convinced they are the right strikers for the Gunners.
He added: “I don’t know if there is a suitable striker out there that we could buy. Because you’re right, J, the statistics are there, but I don’t know if there is a striker out there that would fit into our team.”
“I think a Nico Williams or an Eze would make us better.”
Arsenal face Brighton at home on Saturday, live exclusively on The Pitch Prospect, and the Seagulls also made a perfect start to the Premier League season.
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