Arsenal: ‘Comfortable’ Lucas Perez Needs To Make Life Uncomfortable

Lucas Perez has stated that he now feels comfortable in London. Now, he needs to make life uncomfortable for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.

Competition in top club’s squads is crucial. The fight to prove one’s worth, striving for a first team role, overcoming another in the process, only improves the individual talent of each player and the collective performance of the team. Arsenal have been experiencing that effect this season.

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While the starting XI may not boast the same firepower as Chelsea or Manchester City, the squad is as strong as any other club in the Premier League. The likes of Olivier Giroud, Mohamed Elneny and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have struggled to forge a starting role for themselves with Arsene Wenger rotating players in and out of the lineup throughout the year.

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In recent weeks, perhaps the player who has been spurned the most is Lucas Perez. In a number of late-game cameos, the Spaniard has looked sharp, creating chances, engineering space and scoring goals. Perez himself, in an interview with Arsenal Player, reasoned his recent success with his growing comfort with life in England after six months of acclimatising to the Premier League:

"“It was still quite a change for me to get used to the English league when I moved here from Spain. Everyone needs some time to adjust. Players are all different, so some take longer to adapt than others. Now I feel really comfortable and I’ve fitted in well to the team – that’s particularly important for a player.”"

Now that Perez is feeling comfortable with life at the Emirates, it must now be his task to make life uncomfortable for Wenger. With every chance that he gets, Perez must look to prove that he is worthy of more playing time in the bigger games. He must challenge the usual starters, forcing Wenger into a decision that he does not want to make.

The competition that Arsenal boast in attacking positions is vast. With Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck also struggling to forge a starting role for themselves, Wenger has selection dilemmas to decipher before each and every game. Peres is now another option for him to consider and he may well be the best of the lot.

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In his last eight appearances, Perez has scored or assisted nine goals. In 18 appearances throughout the year in all competitions, he has scored seven and assisted two, but at a ratio of a goal or assist every 75.1 minutes. Perez is certainly deserving of more game time as the season progresses. He must now make it so by making Wenger as uncomfortable as possible.