What if Arsenal had managed to sign Luis Suarez?

The summer-long Luis Suárez transfer saga dragged on almost insufferably, before eventually ending in the Uruguayan committing to the cause at Liverpool and the resultant failure of Arsenal's attempts to lure him away.

After nine league games this season, five of which Suarez missed through suspension, Arsenal and Liverpool sit first and third in the Premier League table and meet this weekend.

After the match we will have moved past a quarter of the way through the season and the match is being billed as a potential banana skin for both team's title hopes.

Whether either team can go on to mount a serious title challenge remains to be seen, with Arsenal yet to face a real test (they have only beaten Spurs of all current top half teams) while Liverpool have stuttered recently with a draw at Newcastle and a home loss to Southampton.

While Olivier Giroud has been leading the line well at the Emirates this season, Suarez's performances since returning to action will merely have reminded Arsenal fans what could have been had the transfer gone through.

Of course, if they had got the Liverpool man they probably would not have purchased Mesut Ozil, who has been an instant hit in north London and undoubtedly a brilliant signing. Still though, questions will remain until Arsenal end their trophy drought as to whether the signing of the Germany star was the right decision or if Mr Wenger should have increased his £40 million and one pound bid for Suarez to tempt Liverpool into allowing him to leave.

Despite only making four Premier League appearances this season, Suarez has already scored more goals (six) than every other player bar teammate Daniel Sturridge (eight) and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero (seven), which of course includes Giroud, whose goal at Crystal Palace last weekend ended a run of 526 minutes - or nearly nine hours - without a goal in the league.

Suarez goals have come from 23 shots, giving him a conversion rate of 26.1 per cent, but the quantity of shots he is having is an indication of just how confident he is. Ten of those attempts have come from outside the box, while he has not missed a single clear-cut goalscoring opportunity yet this season.

All the same, strikers need to do more than just finish off moves, and while Suarez has been doing that to near perfection this term, Giroud's team play deserves note. The Frenchman's link up play has improved vastly this campaign; he already has more assists this season (four) than he managed in the whole of last campaign (three), while he has been laying on 1.7 chances per game in 2013/14, up from 1.0 last season.

He has won a total of 46 aerial duels, a tally only two other Premier League players can top, while only David Silva (five) has completed more through balls than Giroud (four), two stats which further portray how well-rounded his game is increasingly becoming, and with the attacking bursts from midfield of Ozil, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, Giroud's hold up play fits the team perfectly.

However, one cannot underestimate quite how good this Arsenal team could have been with Suarez up front. Cazorla proved last season that he is good enough to play the number 10 role at the club, and Ramsey's form has given reason to believe that Ozil wasn't wholly necessary. Giroud has been a much-improved player this season, but the directness, endeavour and heightened goal threat that Suarez provides would have made this Arsenal team into a frightening prospect.