Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette, break in case of emergency

Alexandre Lacazette is available for Arsenal’s trip to Sheffield United on Monday night. The Gunners, however, should only use him in case of emergency.

Injuries are never ideal. But sadly, they happen. What is important is not necessarily the avoidance of them but the management of them when they do come, because make no mistake, they will come.

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For Arsenal, this is has been extremely pertinent this season. Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney all entered the year off the back injuries, while Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil and Lucas Torreira have all missed matches due to fitness issues. And this week, Alexandre Lacazette, after a month’s absence, also returned to training.

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Due to the international break, Lacazette has now been in training for some time without proving his match fitness. Prior to Monday night’s trip to Sheffield United, head coach Unai Emery provided an update on his status:

"“Today is Lacazette’s first training back with us. He finished it well and he’s feeling well with his injuries. Tomorrow we will be training again and he will be with us. We will decide.  The most important thing is that first he is training, then secondly it’s whether he can be with us and it depends how he can feel in the next days training with us, whether his ankle is not giving him any more problems. It’s positive for us that he’s started training and that he’s a possibility for Monday. I don’t know whether he’s ready for 90 minutes or on the bench. We’ll decide that over the next days, but it’s very important for him to come back to training with us.”"

It remains to be seen just how able Lacazette is physically. He was playing prior to this ankle injury so he is obviously able to play through it, but Arsenal saw it fit to rest him for a month such that he could properly recover and gain full fitness for the remainder of the season.

For that reason, thrusting him back into the team before he is ready seems a little foolish. Lacazette was dropped from the squad in the first place for the benefit of the whole season. Why then completely undermine that decision by rushing him back? And so, how should Emery use Lacazette, if he is not to see him as a full-time starter just yet?

Well, for this trip to Bramall Lane in particular, Lacazette should very much be seen as a ‘break in case of emergency’ type of player. If Arsenal are chasing the game in the second half and they need a goal, Lacazette is the perfect player to throw into the game. He might only be fit for 20 or 30 minutes and it would be better to not use him at all, but he should be there if needed.

Ultimately, the long-term health and availability of Lacazette must be prioritised. That is why he should not start. But in case of emergency, he is there should Emery need him.