Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette one of the few things worth fighting for

Arsenal don’t have a lot to fight for in these last few months other than the Europa League, but they should be fighting for Alexandre Lacazette too.

It’s a relatively dull time to be at Arsenal. With realization setting in that Arsene Wenger is probably staying and acceptance setting in that more players could leave, the Europa League stands alone as the main thing worth tuning in for this season.

But there is a more individualistic thing worth fighting for as well, and that thing is Alexandre Lacazette.

There was a sort of acceptance that circulated around the Arsenal world that Lacazette would be leaving at the end of the season. For all of the other rumored exits, that might honestly be one of the most troubling ones, just from a point of where that would leave the Gunners.

You think of how far Arsenal have come in under a year. They had Olivier Giroud, a disgruntled Alexis Sanchez and a futile Danny Welbeck to fill out the striker position. They brought in Lacazette in the summer and brought in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January and ditched Giroud and Alexis and suddenly, they have two world class strikers.

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There was a time when we were begging for just one world class striker, let alone two. And by “a time” I of course mean the past six or seven years. The post-Robin van Persie years. Because that’s when things started to get really complicated.

Now we have two elite strikers, truly upper-echelon guys, and there is a risk of losing one. Where would it leave the Gunners if we lost Lacazette?

It wouldn’t be easy at all to replace him. Not with the same quality that Lacazette has. And depending on who you got, it would take more acclimation and more frustration and more questioning. All things that we’ve had far too much of lately.

That’s why it was so important for Lacazette and Aubameyang to coexist on the pitch against Stoke City. And not just coexist, but thrive and, at the risk of sounding excruciatingly corny – bond. The penalty-taking decision was a truly meaningful moment and one that proves this very point – that maintaining both of these guys is incredibly important.

Next: Arsenal vs Stoke City Player Ratings

There are other potential exits worth fighting for, of course. Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey are both in precarious positions with their contracts. But a Lacazette exit may be the biggest setback of them all.

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