The massive Arsenal conundrum facing Mikel Arteta

Why were Arsenal so terrible against Crystal Palace? There were, sadly, too many reasons to list. What there is, however, is a painstakingly obvious one that has come to light in the previous two meetings.

Trying to decipher what has changed these games for Mikel Arteta’s side leads us to one factor. One person, sorry: Alexandre Lacazette.

The Frenchman has not suddenly made Arsenal unstoppable. He isn’t the solution to what is currently an ever-growing concern. There is no avoiding how much more connected the team looks when he’s on the pitch, though.

Away at Brighton Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a stinker. Every pass into him ballooned back to whence it came, and it resulted in any aspirations of pressure being lifted having the reverse effect. He was an out-ball and then immediately after a return ball.

The massive Arsenal conundrum facing Arteta isn’t whether to play Lacazette or Aubameyang – it’s to not play Smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe together

Lacazette came on and attacks had a focal point; a centralised option that brought others into play. Suddenly Arsenal had a means with which to relieve pressure, and runners beyond, such as Emile Smith Rowe, had ground they could charge into with purpose.

Against Crystal Palace the Frenchman was on the pitch for less than half an hour and could arguably have scooped the team’s man of the match. Arsenal needed a way of disrupting Palace’s backline and it took the presence of someone like Lacazette in their half to do so. That cameo saw him have seven touches in the opposition box. Aubameyang had two all game.

But one of those was a goal. And among everything else, his work rate off the ball was exceptional and a key component of the fluid opening Arteta’s side had. The captain set the tone and his tracking run and tackle shortly after the goal was Arsenal at their highest ebb.

Without delving deep, the solution would surely be to field both: Lacazette through the middle and Aubameyang out wide. Or, in some variation of a two-man strike force where the former can sit off the centre-backs to create a link.

How often has that worked? ‘Aubazette’ as a partnership has only worked in patches, none of which have properly arrived under Arteta’s tenure. Thus the already known conundrum arises once more in that Arsenal need their ideal ‘Aubazette’; dashes of the pair moulded into one. They don’t have that.

Fielding both also sees one of Emile Smith Rowe or Martin Odegaard miss out which, based on the previous two outings, would see the Norwegian comfortably benched. Yet Aubameyang out on the left in a neutral game state is a waste of his finer talents and an additional creative body.

What is the solution, then?

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