Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey could flourish with Alexandre Lacazette

Aaron Ramsey has heralded the quick start of Alexandre Lacazette. The two players have the shared intelligence and quality to flourish at the heart of the Arsenal side.

The adaptation process to the Premier League is one that is always filled with uncertainty and doubt. Will the physicality of English football overpower those not used to its unique challenges? Will the leniency of the referees confuse and frustrate the slighter of the new additions? Will the cold, bitter, winter nights put off those used to warmer, kinder climates?

These are all questions that Alexandre Lacazette has been answering since his club-record £47 million move to Arsenal. Some of the questions are more valid than others. Some have already been answered; others are yet to be so determined. But, while there are reasons to be cautious –it is early October, after all –, for the most part, it has been a positive start to the Frenchman’s career.

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That is my opinion, and is, seemingly, the prevailing opinion of fans and pundits who have watched him play this season. It is also the opinion of Aaron Ramsey. Speaking to Arsenal Media Player, Ramsey stated his belief that Lacazette has made a ‘great start’, heralding his understanding and positional intelligence, hoping that the pair will be able to link up well as the season unfolds:

"“I think he’s made a great start. He’s very technically good, he’s very clean with his touches and his link-up play and he’s a great finisher. I think his understanding is pretty good so far. He likes to come a bit deeper sometimes and try to link up the play and feed players in. He makes those darting runs in behind as well, so he’s very good to play with and hopefully, we can link up well throughout the season.”"

And that last point, that he and Lacazette can link up well together is one that I think is especially poignant. The reason being, that the type of players that both are, particularly Ramsey, as a marauding, bombing-on central midfielder who likes to exploit the space that a striker can create for him, lends themselves to one another. Ramsey and Lacazette should link up well.

First and foremost, they both like to move. That may seem like a simple or odd statement. But in moving, space is created, and the pair have the intelligence and the awareness to utilise the space that is engineered by the other’s moving. That is important and very difficult to defend against.

Moreover, their shared technical skill on the ball, their subtlety in touch, sharpness in dribbling, and variety and ingenuity in passing, mean that, as a pair, they should be able to play the quick, darting one-twos that can break down even the most stubborn of defences.

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Ramsey has enjoyed a blossoming partnership with Olivier Giroud, using his abilities to hold the ball up and to flick passes into charging runs to great effect. He is now playing with a different type of striker. But that does not mean that he cannot partner him as potently. Both Lacazette and Ramsey are wonderful players in their own right; their complementary styles of play could make each one truly flourish.