Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger sees Lukas Podolski as a future striker.

Podolski has been used almost primarily on the left-hand side of Arsenal's attack since his arrival last summer, but Wenger says he can thrive down the middle too.

"Podolski was injured when we played at Bayern and won," the boss told arsenal.com. "After that, we won at Swansea…sometimes you have periods like that and I think he can play as a central striker as well.

"I work a lot with him as a central striker at the moment. He is a quality player and when he comes on you can see that straight away. You don't get 100 caps by luck.

"Honestly he has a great attitude. He never moans, he never has a bad phase, he is always positive.

"I had Walcott was on the bench [too]. It's hard to leave everybody out. Nacho Monreal didn't play and he played extremely well until now."