Arsenal Vs Everton: 5 key players to watch — Debuts galore

Arsenal host Everton on Saturday evening as the Premier League rumbles on. Here are five key players to watch ahead of the crucial home tie.

As the hullabaloo of the January transfer window dies down and the norm and routine of the football season begins to re-establish itself, Arsenal find themselves in a rather worrying eight-point hole as they look to right the Champions League qualification roles of last season after Tuesday night’s humiliating loss to Swansea City. They will be happy, then, that their next fixture sees a return to the Emirates, with Everton making their way to North London.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast here

Here are five key players to watch ahead of a match that the Gunners must win.

5. Alexandre Lacazette

Arsenal may have signed a new centre-forward in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, breaking their club-record in doing so, but it is perhaps their former record signing that they should be more concerned about. Alexandre Lacazette is yet to flourish as was initially hoped of him.

And now he has competition to deal with. It remains to be seen how Arsene Wenger will shuffle his pack, but for Saturday’s match against Everton, it would be a surprise to not see Lacazette start. Aubameyang has been dealing with a sickness in the week and Wenger is extremely hesitant in introducing new signings, often given them substitute appearances to ease their way into their new surroundings.

If that is indeed the case, then Lacazette has one more opportunity to make his contribution known. That does not necessarily mean that he has to score, but he has to show more than he did against Swansea, for instance, where he was largely anonymous, having fewer touches than Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who played 60 minutes less. Lacazette’s place in this team is most certainly under threat. He must prove why it shouldn’t be.