Arsenal: A sharp Danny Welbeck or blunt Alexandre Lacazette?

With Alexandre Lacazette’s return to Arsenal training, Arsene Wenger has a decision to make for the Europa League campaign: A sharp Danny Welbeck or blunt Lacazette?

The most important games of the season up until the point that they are played between now and the end of the year will be every Europa League game. With the Premier League now relatively insignificant given the points disparity to the top four, for Arsenal, the biggest game of the year is next Thursday, as CSKA Moscow prepare to travel to the Emirates in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals.

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And Arsene Wenger has quite a big decision to make in regards to his team selection. Specifically, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cup-tied and the return of Alexandre Lacazette, the lone centre-forward position is one that offers great uncertainty.

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The man who started in Aubameyang’s stead during Lacazette’s absence, Danny Welbeck, has done little to deserve a straight benching. He worked tirelessly in both legs against AC Milan, scoring twice in the second leg, and spearheaded the attack with a great athleticism and annoyance, occupying the defenders, providing time space for those behind him to work in.

It has been roundly presumed that Lacazette will simply swan back into the line-up ever since his return to training just before the international break. He is the former club-record signing. He was the assumed starter prior to Aubameyang’s arrival. He is, at least in terms of natural quality, the better player than Welbeck. But is it fair that we — I most certainly include myself in this — simply assume that Lacazette will sweep in ahead of the gangling Englishman? It might not be.

Perhaps most crucially, Wenger is notoriously hesitant with players returning from injury, especially the more long-term absences. He oftentimes provides them with several substitute-appearances so that they can find their match sharpness before entrusting them with a starting role.

In this case, that will not be possible. There is only one game before CSKA’s trip to North London, a home match against Stoke City on Easter Sunday. It is not going to be easy to give Lacazette the minutes he requires to gain full match-fitness in that time. And so, the conundrum presents itself.

Do you play a player of proven quality who is returning from an extended injury lay-off and may be lacking full sharpness, or do you play a player of perhaps lesser nuance and ability but his fully fit and raring to go? This the problem that Wenger must answer between now and next Thursday.

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I am not sure what he will do. I am not that sure what I would do. But I do think we have all been a little hasty in simply assuming that Lacazette will return and start from the off. That may not quite be as assumed as we all thought it was.