The Arsenal striker conundrum

Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are two forwards that strike fear into the heart of their opponents and often regarded as two of the best strikers in the Premier League.

The duo that cost Arsenal a combined total of £115 million over the past 18 months have added well needed life and energy to the Gunners attack following so many star strikers leaving the North London club in recent years, such as Alexis Sanchez.

Although Lacazette and Aubameyang have become fast friends at the club and their social media antics make even the harshest of Arsenal critics smile in amusement, there’s still something missing between the forwards that should worry Gooners, they can’t play together.

Two strikers, one problem

Before I go on a tangent to explain my point let me first address something. Yes, Lacazette and Aubameyang can play together under the right circumstances. This is normally when one of the other starts on the bench and is brought on to find a goal, and the tactic has worked this season.

This is is what won Arsenal the North London derby as Lacazette scored the vital goal to give the Gunners the lead in the second-half, and it can be debatable that this simple change is what results Unai Emery’s side playing their best brand of football so far this season.

The problem comes when the duo are in the starting XI. When this happens  Lacazette starts as the main striker with Aubameyang on the left wing as an inside forward, the role that saw Sanchez flourish at Arsenal.

On paper, this could work. Aubameyang has the pace and the skillset to play in that position and the Gabon international played as a left-winger during his breakout season at Saint Etienne that won him a move to Borussia Dortmund, yet for some reason, it just doesn’t work at Arsenal.

This could be down to age and Aubameyang becoming so used to playing as a lone striker during his successful years in the Bundesliga.

Sticking to the old solution

“So why not just start the two up front as a striker partnership?” I hear you say.

Well, on Saturday against Huddersfield we finally saw Lacazette and Aubameyang start as a duo up-front for the first time this season in a5-3-2 formation. And how did that go? Lacazette coming off at halftime and a revert back to the 4-3-2-1 formation tells the story as to how that afternoon went for the strikers.

Lacazette as striker and Aubameyang as an inside forward doesn’t work, and neither does the duo starting together as partners up-top, so what’s the solution to this £115 million problem?

Emery needs to stick to starting either Lacazette or Aubameyang in the starting XI in the striker position, and then putting one or the other on the bench so they can be brought on later in the game.

A hard pill to swallow

It might not be what the fans, Emery or the two players want. After all, benching a player that cost a big sum of money only to use him as a super sub doesn’t seem like a great idea on paper, but there is evidence to suggest this is how to get the best out of the two.

As well as the North London derby, we saw this againstFulham when Arsenal was 2-1 up against the Cottagers in the second half. Aubameyang came on in the 67^th minute, and by the end of the match the Gunners had scored another three to finish the game 5-1 winners, with the former Dortmund striker bagging a brace.

Lacazette and Aubameyang might be the best of friends on and off the pitch and both be the two most expensive signings in Arsenal’s history, but the duo’s best football come when one of them is sacrificed to the bench. If the Gunners are to return to their former selves, this realisation must come sooner rather than later for Emery.