Arsenal: Unai Emery right to take off Alexandre Lacazette for Aaron Ramsey

In recent weeks, Unai Emery has controversially withdrawn Alexandre Lacazette on several occasions. Often times, this was wrong, but not against Fulham. Here’s why.

Alexandre Lacazette has become a fan favorite at Arsenal. And rightfully so given his performances during his first two seasons in north London. The former Lyon striker has proven on multiple occasions that he was worth the large transfer fee that was required to procure his services.

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In recent fixtures, Unai Emery has been withdrawing the French striker prior to the 90-minute mark, and many fans have shown frustration over this. Against Fulham on New Year’s Day, an abundance of fans in the Emirates stadium greeted the change with an irritated jeer.

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Lacazette, who generally cuts a frustrates figure when being pulled off prematurely, reacted differently than he usually does. Instead, he gestured his teammates to remained focused and complete the task at hand and then clapped the fans, as if to encourage them to be more positive about Emery’s decision. Many are debating whether or not the 75th-minute change was the right one, with some criticism coming in for Emery’s management of Lacazette, but in this case, I believe Emery was correct.

In the 61st minute, Fulham made two substitutions that nearly changed the game. The Ivorian international, Jean Michel Seri, and French striker Aboubakar Kamara were introduced and began to give the Arsenal defense more problems than they were already having for the first hour of the match. Kamara pulled a goal back in the 69th minute and it appeared as if Fulham were beginning to build more of a foothold in the match.

The proactive style of Emery’s management shined through brilliantly after he decided to controversially take off Lacazette for Aaron Ramsey only six minutes after the goal. As a result of the substitution, the Gunners regained control of the midfield, with Ramsey doing an excellent job to curtail the metronomic control that Seri was building. To further vindicate just how right Emery’s decision was, Ramsey only went and scored a goal after four minutes of being on the pitch, extending Arsenal’s slender one-goal lead and essentially putting them out of sight.

Arsenal do not have to win back the midfield in every game. However, Emery has been taking off Lacazette in and around the 70th minute relatively consistently as of late. This is to no fault of the elite French forward or the manager; it comes down to the lack of an Olivier Giroud or Danny Welbeck-type player on the bench waiting to come on in an effort to change the game. At the moment, Emery only has two proven strikers at his disposal and seems as though he is not yet willing to put faith into Eddie Nketiah. Consequently, Lacazette is taken off in order to preserve his fitness.

Arsenal should be in the market for an abundance of positions, including that of a secondary striker, so the former Lyon man can display his talents for a full 90 minutes rather than for about an hour or so. Emery was completely right to hook Lacazette against Fulham and will continue to be correct in doing so until the role of a “Plan B” striker is taken by somebody.

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Will the small issue at hand be addressed or will it evolve into a much bigger problem, one that could see that Arsenal’s number nine grow irritated with the perpetual withdrawals and become unsettled? Only time will tell, but, for now, Emery is making the right choice, despite what the reaction in the stands may be.

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