Arsene Wenger is confident Gervinho and Theo Walcott can be converted into good center-forwards, while Thomas Vermaelen stressed the importance of stopping Andy Carroll in the Gunners' late game against West Ham United Saturday.
Gervinho is Arsenal's leading scorer this season with five goals, and has thrived in the central striking position, something nobody thought he was capable of. Wenger is a master at converting perceived wingers or second strikers into pure center forwards, with Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie the best examples.
After the departures of the duo, Wenger has now turned his attentions towards Gervinho, who despite making some obvious misses, is slowly growing into the role, the more he plays. Walcott is the keenest among the lot to play down the middle, even hinting his future with Arsenal hinged on him being allowed to play as a center forward, and Wenger believes the two players, who were almost exclusively used as wide players last season, will eventually become center forwards.
"The thinking was to use well his (Gervinho's) quality of movement and his pace," Wenger said. "But of course you have to overcome a little bit of an obstacle that he doesn't correspond well to the traditional image you have of a central striker.
"I did that with Robin van Persie. He was more a technical player, it was not obvious to put him as the central striker.
"I did it with Thierry Henry, I did it now with Gervinho and I think I will do it as well with Walcott.
"They have other qualities that is well suited to our game. Our game is based on movement and technical ability and they have that."
Movement and technical ability are two aspects of the game which go hand in hand with the Arsenal way, and Wenger believes in the modern game, central defenders need to have those abilities just as much as any other outfield player on the pitch.
"(The role) is changing to increase the shape of the teams," he said. "The traditional shape of football was 4-4-2 and the new shape is to have one isolated striker.
"In a 4-4-2 system, the two full-backs get the ball first because the two strikers are in the middle and the two centre backs are marked so the keeper's first solution is to the full-backs.
"In the modern game, the two full-backs are marked by two wingers or wide midfielders and the first available player are the center-backs as they are playing two against one.
"That means the importance of that technical quality is much more important. Even if they are less good defensively, they have less to deal with than two against two -- they are always in a two against one situation.
"The start of the game is with the center-backs nowadays, and that's why that technical ability has suddenly become important."
Meanwhile, Vermaelen said West Ham striker Carroll would pose the biggest threat to Arsenal in their English Premier League game. "I played against Andy Carroll when he played for Liverpool," Vermaelen told the club's official website.
"He suits their way of playing at the moment. At West Ham they play some long balls and with Carroll up front, he's a tall guy. He's good with his head so he will be a big challenge.
"But we always want to play our own game as Arsenal. First we have to match them in the fight. If there's a long ball, we want to fight for that ball and bring the ball down as quickly as possible and play our own game.
"I've played at Upton Park a few times in the past and I must say I like the stadium and the atmosphere there, so it's quite nice to go there and play again.
"We go into every game to get the three points, and especially after the defeat against Chelsea. We want to get the win because that's really important if you look at the ranking at the table."