Henry: Moving Sanchez can make Giroud better

Giroud has often come into criticism from Gunners supporters who are frustrated at the club's failure to win the Premier League since 2004, with the need for a world-class striker often cited as their biggest obstacle to success.

"When I see Sanchez play for Chile, he is up front, free. Not on the left, not on the right. That might be something. If Alexis can be used in and around Giroud, instead of being wide, both of them will benefit from that."

Thierry Henry believes a change in position for Alexis Sanchez could be what Olivier Giroud needs in order to thrive at Arsenal.

Giroud has often come into criticism from Gunners supporters who are frustrated at the club's failure to win the Premier League since 2004, with the need for a world-class striker often cited as their biggest obstacle to success.

The France international has been linked with a move to Napoli as part of a deal for Arsenal to sign Gonzalo Higuain, while Jamie Vardy rejected Arsene Wenger's men in order to stay with champions Leicester City.

But Henry thinks it is possible to improve the current attack by getting more out of Giroud – who has yet to beat 16 goals in any of his four league seasons with Arsenal – which can be achieved through playing Sanchez more centrally.

Henry told The Sun: "You can see that Giroud becomes a better player when he has people around him.

"Look how he played for France with Antoine Griezmann. He is very good when he can flick and hold up play - his link-up play is second to none - but he needs players around him making runs behind him.

"When I see Sanchez play for Chile, he is up front, free. Not on the left, not on the right. That might be something. If Alexis can be used in and around Giroud, instead of being wide, both of them will benefit from that."

Henry also feels Aaron Ramsey is best deployed in a central position, hailing the midfielder's performances for Wales at EURO 2016.

The former Arsenal and Barcelona forward continued: "You are always going to talk about Gareth Bale as he was outstanding, but for me Aaron Ramsey was as good, if not a bit better.

"He showed Arsene what he can do in midfield. Now we have Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, it is difficult when you want to be in the middle for Arsenal, but what was good for Aaron was that he showed everyone.

"Reading between the lines of what he says, he would prefer to be in the middle, but he will do a job on the right or wherever the boss asks him to play.

"That is great of him, but as a number 10 who runs beyond and everywhere, I just thought that he should have got more credit. He was as good as the other guys I saw in that tournament.

"Maybe he didn't score the six goals that Griezmann scored but assists, goals, energy, defending, going forward - hopefully that can be good for Arsenal if he can come home and play the same way."