Arsene Wenger Believes Aubameyang And Lacazette Can Play Together

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has suggested that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette can play together after the pair impressed during Sunday’s Premier League meeting versus Stoke City. The Gunners struggled to find a rhythm to their play for the first hour, and this saw the arrival of Alexandre Lacazette from the bench.

With the Frenchman on the field, Aubameyang slotted into the left-wing position, and this enhanced the Gunners’ performance as they scored three goals in the final 15 minutes. Aubameyang netted the first two, and had the opportunity to bag his hat-trick via the penalty spot, but he was generous enough to allow Lacazette to score following his injury comeback.

Speaking after the game, Wenger was asked whether Aubameyang and Lacazette can feature together more regularly, to which he replied: “Yeah, I think Aubameyang played a long part of his career on the left, at St Etienne, and in the first year at Dortmund [with Lewandowski], he played on the left. After, when Lewandowski moved to Bayern Munich, he played centrally.”

Meanwhile, Lacazette only returned to the line-up after a long injury lay-off and Wenger appeared to hint that the Frenchman may require a couple of more games before he can start regularly for the club, he added: “He’s still lacking a bit of competitive edge. He’s been out for two months, he worked hard, but he still lacks a fraction maybe. In training, he looks sharp. How long can he last in a game? I don’t know. He certainly needs one or two more games.”

Arsenal has a key Europa League quarter-final first-leg against CSKA Moscow on Thursday night, and judging by Wenger’s comments, Lacazette may be a touch-and-go for the midweek outing. The second leg of the encounter involves a lengthy trip to Russia, and Wenger will be hoping that his team can gain a significant advantage from this week’s game.