It takes two top-class forwards to tango

Dear Unai Emery

Iwas always wondering whether you would have the gumption to play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette together in the same starting eleven, and you did so against Cardiff City last weekend with great success.

To me it’s a no-brainer. If you have two talented strikers, both of whom are proven goalscorers at the highest level, you play them both. It’s what I call the Barcelona method. There have been times when the multiple Spanish champions have had a leaky defence, but they have a plethora of talent- ed strikers and they know that no matter how many the opposition score, they will score more.

The Aubameyang-Lacazette combination reminds me a bit of the Thierry Henry-Denis Bergkamp one of the Arsenal Invincibles back in 2003/04. Both Henry and Bergkamp had a real nose for goal and that incredible run of 49 matches unbeaten in the English Premier League was punctuated with matches they could so easily have lost were it not for one of those two.

The Arsenal defence is still, to my mind, as porous as the government coffers. They look like they will concede a goal every time the opposition mounts an attack, and

Guy Hawthorne

that is a huge concern.

But as long as we apply the Barcelona principle, and Aubameyang and Lacazette play together, I am confident we will win more matches than we will lose this season.

Aubameyang’s goal last weekend was a thing of beauty. The ball was played in to Lacazette just outside the box and he executed a delightful flick that landed in the path of Aubameyang. The Gabonese took the ball in his stride and then curled a delightful shot wide of the keeper and just inside the far post.

The fact that Cardiff scored from their only two attempts on target is, as I’ve said, worrying. Twice they hit back last weekend after having been outplayed by Arsenal for long stretches. But even when they equalised for the second time, I still had that nagging feeling that the Gunners would snatch the winner – as they did with Lacazette’s late strike.

I think about the great striking partnerships of the past. Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton for Blackburn Rovers, Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane for Spurs, Michael Owen and Emile Heskey for Liverpool, Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke for Manchester United and that other United duo, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. There are others, but these combinations contributed greatly to the success of their clubs.

It is early days yet, but I believe that if you persist with the Aubameyang-Lacazette partnership, it could well develop into one that is remembered in years to come.

Besides, that attacking brand of football, while it is often nerve-wracking, is much more fun to watch.