Arsenal: The Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette compromise

This week, Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette returned to full training. His availability throws up the same old conundrum: How do you pair him with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?

In modern football, it is extremely difficult to play with two centre-forwards. With a back four, you commit yourself to only using two central midfielders or playing with a narrow diamond that leaves you terribly exposed on the flanks; with a back three, the 3-5-2 shape does provide some central relief, but can easily be exploited in wide areas by tactically superior opposition.

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This has led to most teams abandoning a two-striker set-up. So what do you do when your two best players are both strikers? That is the conundrum that Unai Emery and Arsenal face right now, and whatever solution they find, it will unquestionably be a compromise of some kind.

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The facts are as follows:

• Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s are Arsenal’s two best players and must play
• Two-striker systems do not work in modern football
• Consequently, one of the pair must play in a different position to accommodate both. The next best option is to drop one and play the right system rather than use a 4-4-2-based shape.

As you can see, it makes it extremely difficult for Emery to properly balance his side while still featuring his best players, which is, of course, the aim of every manager. So what do you do?

Well, there are two primary solutions to this problem: use Lacazette as a number 10, starting in behind Aubameyang and dropping into central midfield when Arsenal are out of possession; shift Aubameyang out wide and use him as an inverted winger on the left flank, comparable to the roles Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane perform for Liverpool. As you can quickly see, neither of these are ideal answers to the problem.

Of the two, I believe the latter is substantially the better option — not the perfect option, but the superior one. And this comes down to the basic reason why two-striker systems do not work in modern football (and the same reason why Mesut Ozil and traditional creative, attacking midfielders are a dying breed too): you need three central midfielders.

To better control games, teams have used a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 shape (they are essentially the same thing) for the past decade. The inclusion of the extra central midfielder helps provide extra protection when defending, offers another passing option in build-up play, thus exercising more command over the opposition, and also helps to better balance the team.

Using a striker as a third central midfielder undermines this process. Lacazette may have the qualities to play off of Aubameyang, but he will be starting from advanced positions and dropping into midfield, not starting deep and then pushing forward. And there is a massive difference between those two roles. It would not work.

In contrast, while Aubameyang is not a natural wide player and there are some balance concerns when he is used out wide, especially defensively, it is a far more accommodating problem. With three natural central midfielders, adjustments can be made in deeper positions to combat the imbalance that using Aubameyang as a winger causes. The same is not possible with Lacazette as a third central midfielder.

Ultimately, there is no perfect solution to this conundrum — the actual solution was to sell Aubameyang in the summer and reinvest, but that was never really going to happen. Whatever Emery chooses, he will have to compromise. Let’s just hope that he picks the best compromise.