Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang still the limit

Last season, Arsenal were defined by the play of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. While they added nice pieces in this summer’s transfer window, that much is still true this time around.

You could make a very fair argument that Arsenal’s team last season consisted of a middling Premier League defence and midfield dragged to a near top-four level by two world-class centre-forwards.

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While the backline floundered with 51 goals conceded and the midfield was unable to pass forwards or dribble past a defender, the two strikers proceeded to score more than 40 goals between them, one of them being named the co-Golden Boot winner for his exploits. The Gunners very nearly finished fourth and very nearly won the Europa League because of two men: Player of the Season, Alexandre Lacazette, and top goalscorer, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

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In the summer, it was exceptionally clear that the club wanted to invest in support for these two centre-forwards, both in terms of bolstering a hapless defence and providing some attacking width and creativity in midfield. And although the jury is very much still out on the moves they made, the initial belief is that this team is now a lot better than the one that Unai Emery fielded last season.

And I agree with that assessment entirely. This year, Arsenal are a better team with better players. However, for every bit that Lacazette and Aubameyang dragged them up the table last season, legs tangling as they haplessly flailed in the strikers’ wake, they will equally be defined by the striking pair this time around, if just with a little push in the right direction by those around them.

Two games into the new season, the latest of which was a 2-1 home victory against Burnley at Saturday lunchtime, Arsenal have scored three goals. All three have come from Lacazette and Aubameyang, the latter doubling the former’s tally. Like last year, it is the centre-forwards who will lead the team forward.

Come the end of the season, the Gunners’ success will be determined by the play of their centre-forwards, and not in terms of how many goals they score, but rather, the support that they are provided by those around them to truly explode. With the right cast of characters, Lacazette and Aubameyang could reach 30 goals each. They were not far from that tally last year.

If a striking duo scores 60-plus goals in a season, suddenly, you have the makings of an excellent team. Others will chip in with goals here and there, chiefly club-record signing Nicolas Pepe, who scored more Ligue 1 goals than anyone bar Kylian Mbappe from the right flank for Lille last year, but Arsenal will go as far as their centre-forwards’ goals can take them.

This has a thoroughly exciting start to the season. Youth, vigour, six points, an away clean sheet, creativity and mobility. It feels very different from a year ago. But one thing remains the same: the limit of this team is defined by their strikers. The only change is that limit is being pushed a whole lot higher by those around them.