Arsenal: 4 talking points from 1-0 Tottenham defeat

4. Play Aubameyang at Centre-Forward or Don’t Play Him At All

Anyone worried about the centre-forward position? While we’ve cut Aubameyang some slack in pre-season, the general issue of the strike force is starting to crank up the dials of distress.

On Sunday, however, we saw another pointless affair of Aubameyang being shunted out on the left. It does not require pre-season to know this is no longer a viable option. Either you play the captain at No. 9 or you don’t play him at all.

In terms of options, there is mitigation for Arteta: only Reiss Nelson was available to play on the left from the options on the bench with Bukayo Saka not ready to be starting matches. Willian wasn’t even present.

However, just play Nelson there, then. Aubameyang did work out on the left when Granit Xhaka stayed infield and Kieran Tierney was freer to feed him down the line in quick back-to-front motions, but with the Scot playing as an auxiliary winger it leaves Aubameyang picking up spaces where he isn’t threatening.

As for Lacazette, he’s now looking destined to play out his contract. It’s inexcusable. Five years for £50m and he has hasn’t surpassed 20 goals in a campaign. Play one of the two at striker and leave the other one out. If the Premier League clash with Brentford comes around and the same front three are persisted with then the same glaring issues will remain.