Arsenal: 5 key players vs Manchester United in FA Cup

3. Alexandre Lacazette

As we saw against West Ham, you can defend as well as you want, but if you can’t attack, you don’t win. As we saw against Chelsea, if you defend well and attack well, the Gunners are as formidable a club as there is.

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As we have already talked about the defense (and we will get back into it), the attack is obviously a pretty crucial piece of the puzzle and no one can facilitate a successful Arsenal attack quite like Alexandre Lacazette. You can stack Ramsey and Aubameyang and Ozil and whoever you want, but at the end of the day, you need someone who is strong enough inside the box that you can trust them with the ball, to be a danger to the other team.

Lacazette is that guy and he is the most consistent of those other guys. Aubameyang is made better by Lacazette (in case you haven’t heard), Ramsey is always better with more options and Ozil, if he plays, needs all the help he can get.

Lacazette just makes everything better. He gives a crucial angle to the attack that you can’t get from anyone else – this angle of being able to actually single-handedly make something happen with the ball at his feet in the box.

Take the goal against Chelsea as a prime example. A sublime turn, a perfect touch. Boom. 1-0. Aubameyang isn’t that kind of striker and it didn’t require any masterful creative inspiration from Ozil and Ramsey. It was just a turn and a shoot.

That kind of reliable attacking play is an absolute necessity against United, who have been known to let up plenty of goals.

No. 2 it next.