Arsenal: With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, they have a chance

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette scored Arsenal’s two goals in their 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday afternoon. With those two at the helm, the Gunners always have a chance.

Sometimes, football games don’t quite go how everyone expected. Sometimes, they just kind of go really weird. They have an odd pattern, an unsettled element to them that makes them a little awkward. Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday afternoon was very much one of those games.

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The Gunners didn’t deserve to win that match. Their best player was Petr Cech, who was called into a string of excellent saves, particularly of the one-on-one variety, to keep his team in the game and protect his recently much-dirtied sheet. But they scored two goals early in the second half in quick succession to put the game to bed. And that, really, was that.

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For Arsenal, the goals came from their usual suspects: the first was a rip-roaring, post-kissing, air-bending, goalkeeper-stretching finish from Alexandre Lacazette; the second, an extremely fortunate finish by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who was offside by a couple of yards after a searing break from Mesut Ozil to set up the opportunity. And that is significant.

As Unai Emery continues to build his team and deeper install his ideas, shaping this new team in his image, which will take time and patience and work, it is becoming increasingly clear that if he is to assemble a successful team, both in the short-term and the long-term, then it will likely revolve around the shared goalscoring talents of both Lacazette and Aubameyang.

They are indeed one of the best striking tandems in the Premier League. It makes sense to trust them to win games for you, whether it be through consistent striking or, like on Sunday, moments of rare quality in bitty games that are won during those crucial periods where the best players seem to be able to elevate their level just for that vital split second.

And in Lacazette and Aubameyang, Arsenal have two players that can score goals at any point in the match. A quick-strike counter-attack, a front-post dart, a long-range piledriver, a sharp strike from inside the penalty area, a penalty kick. They can both score all sorts of goals. That is a part of what makes them so dangerous.

With Aubameyang and Lacazette leading the line, even if that means the former has to play off the left wing, a position that he is capable of playing in if not wholly comfortable there, this team will always be dangerous. They will always be able to score goals. They will always have a chance.

That is not something that many other teams can say. Not many teams in the Premier League have a pair of goalscorers like Aubameyang and Lacazette. It is a rare advantage for Arsenal and I expect Emery to exploit it to its fullest.