Arsenal: Suddenly, Unai Emery has a brand new problem

Arsenal struggled immensely  in the early weeks of the new year with creating chances, but all of a sudden, the complete opposite is true.

Arsenal‘s defense has never been their calling card. At least not in recent years. The policy has been to pile up on attackers, play attractive football, and score enough to offset a defense that, again let’s be honest, isn’t turning a lot of heads.

Which is why, at the turn of the new year, there was panic. A lot of panic. Because there was one thing that the Gunners weren’t doing, and it was the one exact thing they were supposed to be doing – creating chances.

Even to this day, despite all the making up of ground they’ve been doing, the Gunners still don’t have a player who is averaging two created chances per match. Mesut Ozil is now at a 1.9 after creating four against Manchester United.

Sead Kolasinac has been the primary weapon all year, and for awhile there, he was creating over two chances per match, but since his attacking mates have taken over the show, his chances have dwindled.

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Now, the question becomes how Unai Emery even chooses between all the options at his disposal. And that just got exponentially more difficult (in a good way) with the reintroduction of Alexandre Lacazette to face Rennes, having had his suspension lessened from three matches to two. Honestly, I don’t blame Rennes for being upset.

As we saw against Manchester United, starting Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang together in a two striker set is perhaps a more viable option than we initially thought. And maybe that was all down to an in-form Mesut Ozil, no? If you have a No. 10 that can hold two strikers together, you’re all set.

But then what happens to the in-form Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who suddenly has no place in the starting XI because of this new discovery? And what of Alex Iwobi, who has actually been an inspiring source of optimism?

You can always run a one striker set and rotate them, as we’ve been doing all year, but keep in mind that, even against United, with how good this side was, their strikers still weren’t at their best. Meaning that it could get even better.

And that doesn’t even take into account Aaron Ramsey. That man definitely deserves some playing time, but good luck finding the room. Oh yeah, and Denis Suarez.