Arsenal could be without both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette for their game against Chelsea next week, per a report in Football London.
Both strikers missed the opening match of the new Premier League season, a 2-0 loss to newly promoted Brentford, with an unspecified illness. This forced manager Mikel Arteta to rethink the line-up, which resulted in a first start for youngster Folarin Balogun.
As per the report, the two senior forwards are a doubt for next week’s London derby which increases the pressure on Arteta. And with Eddie Nketiah also out due to an injury, it may require Balogun to start again. We might see Gabriel Martinelli get a first team assignment in attack as well.
Football London also state that Alex Runarsson, and Willian who missed the game against Brentford, could also miss out again. They are not expected to be a part of the team’s plans for the new season as both have been linked with moves away.
Though the manager said that the strikers were unwell before the game, the timing of all of this is more than a bit suspicious. One would think that if there was a substantial illness, it would have been detected and disclosed long before the match on Friday.
Of course, we cannot discount the chance that the star duo are actually feeling unwell due to an illness. Managers are known for keeping critical team news under wraps, which of course is often in their best interests to do so.
Whatever the reality, the fact is the Gunners are going up against the Champions League winners next week, with a forward who has started only one game.
It is not the ideal start to the season for the north Londoners, who have two incredibly tough games coming up. Beating Chelsea and then Manchester City is going to take a lot from this squad and from what we have seen so far, that does not seem like it can happen.
There is more speculation on Aubameyang’s absence after reports emerged that the Gunners are looking to sell their captain. This would be quite a U-turn, given that he signed a contract extension at the beginning of last season.
Arsenal need to sort out their issues on the field and that is the most pressing matter for Arteta. But with both Aubameyang and Lacazette likely to be unavailable, things have just become a lot harder for the manager.