Arsenal: Can Alexandre Lacazette challenge Aubameyang?

Arsenal have two elite strikers, so now I have to ask: Can Alexandre Lacazette challenge our newest golden boot winner, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?

When Arsenal first landed Alexandre Lacazette, I thought all our striking troubles would gradually dissipate. It was a dynamic duo, him and Olivier Giroud, but Arsene Wenger’s refusal to try new things left a lot to be desired from this duo.

Fast forward through a scoring slump and an injury, and Lacazette had a new partner – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, one of the most elite strikers in all of Europe.

It felt a lot like Lacazette was being replaced, and there were even some annoying rumors that played on that, insinuating that Lacazette didn’t want to play second fiddle. Nor should he. He’s too good to play second fiddle to anyone.

But the stats don’t lie. Lacazette scores about as frequently as Giroud does, in bursts. It’s what he does outside of scoring, like Giroud, that makes him so special.

His ability to link up play, to command space and attention and free up team mates, it’s such a valuable commodity to have on your club. But it also doesn’t account for the goals that he’s supposed to be scoring.

That’s why Aubameyang came to town. And in his first full year with the club, he nabbed that Golden Boot, something that I wondered if the Gunners would ever get a taste of again.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

So now I have to ask – does Lacazette have a shot at challenging Aubameyang for the Golden Boot next year?

First of all, in case it needs to be said, he doesn’t need to. He does so much more, and his combination play is fantastic with Aubameyang, so complimenting him is just as big as scoring the goals himself.

That said, the added freedom that Lacazette now has, knowing how much talent is around him, could help him in taking more of these chances himself, and scoring more goals. He’s no stranger to 20+ goal seasons in Ligue 1.

It would be a big leap, going from his 13 this year to 20+ next year, but it wouldn’t be foreign to him. He went from 15 to 27 between the 2013/14 season and the 2014/15 season. Which was… a big leap.

We shouldn’t be asking him to do any more than he is doing, and we won’t, but let it be known that he has it in him, and I reckon that feeling more comfortable in his surroundings is going to be a major boost to his goal totals.

So who knows, right?