Genuinely
Danny Welbeck's career seems to have flown by. If you had to guess how old he was, what would you say? 25? 26 at a push? Still young isn't he? Somehow, he's 27 and he's still never scored more than 10 league goals in a season at either Manchester United or Arsenal.
Injuries have played their part in halting his progress, of course, as well as his tendency to fall over when he shoots, but his goalscoring record is still way below the expected level of a striker playing for a top 6 Premier League team.
However, if you're an English footballer, it doesn't much to refuel the hype train. Welbeck helped Arsenal come from 0-1 down against relegation battling Southampton to win 3-2 this afternoon with an assist and two goals goal.
The assist was a delightfully delicate flick with the outside of the boot, playing the ball into Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's path, who slotted the ball past Alex McCarthy with ease. The first goal, in true Welbeck fashion, took a huge deflection and resulted with Welbeck in his natural state - lying on the floor - but a goal is a goal. The second, a header at the far post.
That's all it took for some Arsenal fans to come out and call for him to have a seat on the plane going to the World Cup in Russia this summer. Some shouts may have been sarcastic, but many were certainly genuine.
https://twitter.com/Jackpnefc15/status/982995399756656641
https://twitter.com/JoeGooch15/status/982995132550189056
https://twitter.com/rtgunn/status/982984994430881792
https://twitter.com/exit_smoke/status/982984950680047620
https://twitter.com/soccerpaedia/status/982980986748243969
https://twitter.com/tomwheatley27/status/982980350564544512
https://twitter.com/tnolas/status/982980322122981377
https://twitter.com/JManning6/status/982979990093488128
https://twitter.com/fayaz321/status/982979982556389378
Their dreams may come true, as Southgate has called him up in the past, and attacking players like Adam Lallana are now looking likely to miss out through injury.
Other fans have called for Charlie Austin to be given a call up after his equalising goal in the 73rd minute. The Saints striker came off the bench and had an instant impact. England lack a like-for-like back up to Harry Kane, and some people believe that could be Austin.
https://twitter.com/waqarrahmedd/status/982993711046057986
https://twitter.com/JakeAGriff/status/982993217988775936
https://twitter.com/SamShilly1992/status/982994572610588673
Tune in next week, when people will be calling for Jay Rodriguez and Callum Wilson to be in the squad.
