Arsenal: 5 injuries Gunners can’t afford in top four hunt

5. Alexandre Lacazette

It’s quite ironic: a player that fans are desperate to see upgraded on in the summer is also someone who if he weren’t available for the rest of the season would spell total disaster.

Even if Lacazette was injured for a couple of matches the impact would be keenly felt. Everything the team is doing at present, whether he’s scoring or not, is down to the role he plays. It’s one nobody else in the squad could perform.

Getting Nketiah to come in and play at the tip of a midfield diamond would not work. Getting Martinelli to come in and play the tip of a midfield diamond would not work.

Whoever replaced Lacazette in the side would have to be part of a tactical overhaul. The most obvious candidate to play a false nine position is Smith Rowe, yet it’s happened only once before and will require multiple minutes of competitive action to fine tune.

With nine goal involvements in his last ten games and the captain’s armband wrapped around his bicep, Lacazette means more to Arsenal now than he has in his entire Gunners career. Everything positive about the team at present is so because he’s in the team to begin with. He’s a central stabiliser that makes all the others around him more potent.

Whether he’s scoring or not, that remains the case across the next 13 matches.