Arsenal: Thomas Lemar’s place in first team well seen

Arsenal are getting into their preseason fixtures, which have revealed exactly where Thomas Lemar should fit into the first team.

Arsenal’s preseason matches shouldn’t be read out of context too much. It’s not like anything has ever been won or loss based on the results a team had during the offseason. But that being said, there is still a lot that you can glance from a single fixture when put in the context of years past, and that is what the match against Sydney FC gives us a chance to do.

Related Story: 3 Reasons Thomas Lemar Transfer Has To Happen

Without Alexis Sanchez traveling with the team, the task falls on Arsene Wenger to find new and inventive ways around his absence by filling the second attacking midfield role with various candidates.

This is a particularly useful exercise seeing as how Alexis may or may not be pushing for an exit and the need is therefore incredibly real to identify a successor.

Against Sydney FC, Theo Walcott was given the nod and it really couldn’t have gone much worse for him, as it was clear that this position/formation just isn’t right for him. Alex Iwobi damn well might be able to fill the role, but Iwobi isn’t like Alexis. He isn’t irreplaceable and immaculate. Unlike Alexis, he can’t just have free reign on a position.

That’s where I see Thomas Lemar fitting into the club. These two attacking midfield roles are not the winger-type positions that Walcott tried to make it, or like we saw last year. They are creative centerpieces of the attack, split equally between two creators.

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Ideally, that is.

Thomas Lemar is a creator and the numbers back that up. So too is Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi. Alexis Sanchez is by necessity, but he isn’t strictly a creator, he is a great many things.

If the idea is to find a replacement for Alexis, you can’t do much better than Lemar. If the idea is to look to the future for a potential pairing with Iwobi, you again won’t do much better than Lemar.

If the idea is to actually legitimately challenge Ozil and Alexis at these positions then, you guessed it, you won’t do much better than Monaco’s own Thomas Lemar. There is a clear path that Lemar opens up and it is an exciting one.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Sydney FC

The reports are still flooding in that the Gunners are confident that they can land Lemar, which hopefully turns out to be the case. Wenger wasn’t exactly dismissive of the idea and when numerous sources all say the same thing, chances are it’s safe to buy into it.