Arsenal: False 9 Alexandre Lacazette preferable to No. 10 Mesut Ozil

Arsenal may yet again send Mesut Ozil into the starting XI, but utilizing Alexandre Lacazette as a false 9 is such a better options.

There was a brief period in the preseason where I thought we were on to something. Alexandre Lacazette had a brief stint as Arsenal‘s pseudo-No.10, but more like a false 9, not unlike what Denis Bergkamp used to play to Thierry Henry‘s No. 9.

It makes so much sense. Lacazette is so good with the ball, you want him to handle it more, so let him tuck in behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s No. 9 and thrive as a link-up. That’s kind of his thing, you know?

Unai Emery never used it, even with Ozil being out of the picture. But going in to Manchester City, Freddie Ljungberg has a premium opportunity to do something unique and capitalize on the resources that he has.

City’s defensive is pretty beaten up. Laporte and Stones are both out, and Fernandinho is likely to deputize in their stead. That is a huge opportunity for our attack to get in there and get business done with some goals.

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But we also don’t want to leave that attack up to chance. And by chance, I mean Mesut Ozil.

I still have zero faith in Ozil to be a competent member of this attack. That’s just how I see it. He hasn’t been relevant in years. Why keep beating a dead horse? Especially since Lacazette was benched against West Ham in favor of Ozil; an egregious error that I can’t wrap my head around.

True to form, Ozil contributed next to nothing against West Ham.

So why roll the dice again? We can make a huge statement against Manchester City with a win. But we won’t be helped out by Ozil. Nor will we be that helped out with Aubameyang as a winger. So either do a 4-4-2 with Nicolas Pepe and Gabriel Martinelli out wide and Lacazette and Aubameyang as dual strikers, or stick Lacazette central, just behind Aubameyang in the false 9.

Whatever you do, play your best players and in this case, especially your best attackers. Lacazette is in every way superior to Ozil. So don’t screw around with it.

This is a susceptible City defense, and it is a capable Arsenal attack if you staff it properly. Ljungberg made some important decisions recently in regards to his starting XI and he can make another important decision here.