Scoring, scoring Arsenal

There was a time when their version of the numbers game could be summed up in a single chant: "One-nil to the Arsenal." Now the equations are no longer confined to binary. In all competitions, Arsene Wenger's side have 55 goals already this season from 17 different scorers.

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Robin Van Persie's injury may yet halt the Gunners' glut of goals

In the Premier League, they have 36 - more than three clubs mustered in the entirety of the previous campaign - and, at their current rate of progress, they are on course for a frankly incredible 124 in their 38 games. Given the youth of this, and almost every, Wenger team, their notion of history may be Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn. As it stands, however, the class of 2009 are on course to set records that long predate the famously frugal back four.

Welcome to the paradox of Wenger's side. Designed for aesthetic appeal - the critics would suggest at the expense of winning silverware - they are sending the statisticians scurrying to check their facts. With a perverse logic that has suddenly seemed to make sense, they have become more prolific after selling their premier centre-forward. Exit the unlamented Emmanuel Adebayor and there has been a collective attempt to compensate as others have found the path to goal more frequently.

There are reasons to wonder if the deluge of goals will continue, even if a drought is unlikely. Arsenal's next four fixtures begin with a potentially awkward trip to Sunderland and, besides a home game against Stoke, also include both Chelsea and Liverpool. As with any team that achieves an eye-catching level of success, it is only to be expected that opponents will devote more time to their plans to halt them. As past Arsenal teams can testify, such methods can verge on the illegal.

Then there is the shortage of strikers. Adebayor was not replaced, but the injuries incurred by first Nicklas Bendtner (out for a month with a groin problem) and then Robin van Persie (seeking to alleviate his damaged ankle ligaments in distinctly unusual manner) leaves Eduardo, who has only started three league games since his own lengthy lay-off, as the only specialist centre-forward available.

However, that Arsenal are averaging well over three goals a game without a conventional target man and when their premier poacher has often been on the bench suggests it is not the impediment it may be to other teams. Nevertheless, there is a significance to Van Persie, who has revelled in his role as the senior member of the attack. It was highlighted by Wenger when he suggested the Dutchman was a hybrid of arguably Arsenal's greatest strike pairing, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp. Eight goals and as many assists are a sign he is as much scorer as creator.

But Van Persie's conversion from deep-lying forward and winger to the focal point of the attack shows that the Arsenal striker's duties extend far beyond goal-hanging. And that, in turn, helps account for the increase in his team-mates' productivity. The Dutchman's devilish set-pieces are one explanation as to why Arsenal possess the most potent central defensive partnership in the Premier League, with William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen sharing nine goals so far.

And Van Persie's fondness for pastures old, whether on the flank or nearer midfield than attack, permits others to advance into the vacated area in the middle of the forward line. It is something that Cesc Fabregas, the nine-goal top-scorer, has done with particular relish. Andrey Arshavin, cutting in to use his favoured right foot, is another who can benefit from a swift interchange of positions. It is something that fluid, fluent football lends itself to and a concept with which Van Persie is familiar: total football.

Many of Wenger's creative talents - Arshavin, Van Persie, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby - can operate in more than one position in his 4-3-3 formation; Bendtner has been rebranded, to widespread surprise but with some success, as a right winger. Yet the clearest illustration of a shared commitment to progressive play comes from one paid to defend.

Vermaelen has arrived in attack in open play to score against both Wigan and Blackburn, each with a calibre of finish more commonly associated with Van Persie. Defenders functioning perfectly as forwards is one of the guiding principles of Johan Cruyff's total football philosophy. Another is a team where all players are as comfortable in possession as each other. Barring (understandably) the goalkeepers and the full-backs, each department of the team has contributed to Arsenal's half-century of goals thus far.

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Cesc Fabregas and Thomas Vermaelen have belied the lack of strikers in the ranks

It suggests that stopping Arsenal requires more than a solid back four - opposing strikers, for instance, may have to track back with Vermaelen, while there is a case for asking midfielders to man-mark Fabregas. Attacking Arsenal offers an alternative, but that tends to produce the sort of open game the Gunners prefer.

And the question remains: how many goals can they score this season? If 124 is improbable, the first century in top-flight football since Tottenham managed 111 in 1962-3 is certainly feasible and arguably likelier than winning the title. It would be another historic achievement for Wenger to rank with his double double and the unbeaten season the 'Invincibles' managed.

Indeed, there is a recent precedent. Barcelona struck 105 times in La Liga last season. Wenger has since reconfigured his side, who share the Catalans' love of passing, to mimic their 4-3-3 system. Imitating their goal return, difficult as it is, is nonetheless simpler than emulating their extraordinary achievement in winning their domestic league and cup as well as the Champions League in the same season. But it would be some feat - or, given the numbers involved, sum feat - nonetheless.