Arsenal forwards: Who stays and who is sold?

Where do we start with the attack? After a year in which the club finished eighth for the second season running, we saw Alexandre Lacazette being serviceable and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang severely underwhelm, all of which is before even mentioning Willian and the others.

The Gunners’ forward line was hit and miss all last season with Aubameyang in particular having a worryingly high fall from grace. After back-to-back seasons of 22 goals in the Premier League, the Gabonese striker just netted 15 times in all competitions last campaign.

So, with Arsenal’s problems defensively (that department has been tinkered with) and in the middle of the park, now we can add the attack to the long list of areas needed for improvement.

It’s top of the pile, let’s be honest. Arsenal don’t score enough goals, nor are they creative enough. For all the forward talent, their output is dreadful.

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Arsenal forwards: Who should stay and who should be sold in the transfer window with Edu and Arteta seeking further signings and departures

55 top-flight goals is atrocious for the hundreds of millions of pounds worth of footballers at the top end of the pitch.

To say the club is in crisis is not too far from the truth, and with both Lacazette and Aubameyang ‘unwell’ having missed the opening Premier League defeat, the pair are also set to be about against Chelsea.

These are slightly worrying times.

With less than two weeks to go in the summer transfer window and many forwards looking shaky at best, who stays and who goes? All coming with the usual ‘in an ideal world’ caveat, it isn’t all too tough to make these choices.

Keep 5 – Gabriel Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe, Folarin Balogun, Alexandre Lacazette, Bukayo Saka

Three of the five started against Brentford over in west London and all them were largely ineffective. Still, it was only one game.

When it comes to youngster Folarin Balogun, given it was his first-ever league start, nobody is getting too wound up about his disjointed display.

The 20-year-old played only five times for the Arsenal first-team last year, scoring twice in the Europa League. His quality is there for all to see but he needs to be given time, not be the main man to lead the line.

Then there is Martinelli, who deserves to start ahead of Willian, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, and Aubameyang if deployed out wide. His pace, willingness to harass, and his varied shooting ability make him a genuine star in the making. All he needs is a decent string of games to put together some of the form that he produced before his knee injury.

Nicolas Pepe had an improved season last year after an indifferent start to life in north London. However, one thing we have noticed is that when Pepe plays well, the right-back who accompanies him in the team constantly overlaps, providing an outnumber to allow the Ivorian to attack inside channels.

This is where Pepe is so dangerous and where most of his goals come from. Getting him playing in between full-back and centre-back is the route to unlocking his goal threat.

At this stage, Hector Bellerin and Calum Chambers do not provide much in terms of overlap due to Mikel Arteta’s tactical demands, but Cedric does, and he brought the best out of Pepe last season. It’s just a shame that Cedric can’t do much else…like, y’know, defend.

Now to Arsenal’s No.9, Alexandre Lacazette. How he has made it into the final year of his current deal without either moving on or signing a new deal is laughable. You could easily make the case for him to be in the ‘sell’ column with several reports suggesting Arsenal wants to offload both him and Aubameyang, but the fact is he offers more than what the Arsenal skipper does. Nonetheless, this is a mess that shouldn’t have reached this point.

If all was achievable, let him play down his contract and sell the captain.

Lacazette’s link-up play and ability to bring others into the game are crucial when you have players like Pepe, Saka, and Smith Rowe around him. Of all the options at the club it’s the 30-year-old who best suits the manager’s style.

All that aside, the attack needs improvement. Will it get it? That remains unclear.

Continued…