Arsenal have struggled away from home all season, as usual, and the persistent use of Alex Lacazette and Mesut Ozil in the first XI is a big reason why.
Turf Moor was the location for the early kickoff on Sunday in the Premier League, as fans got their appetizer of Burnley vs Arsenal ahead of their main course, Spurs vs Manchester City, later in the day. Arsenal went into the match with Aubameyang and Luiz back in the team following their respective suspensions, but it made no difference on the day.
Arteta’s persistent use of Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette in the Arsenal first-team, particularly away from home, has caused the Gunners to become uninspiring, weak, and flat. Both players have been absolutely dire in away matches over the past 2 years, and yet they still continue to be handed starring roles at Arsenal despite being completely undeserving of it.
After coming up empty-handed against Burnley, Alexandre Lacazette has officially gone an entire calendar year without scoring an away goal for the Gunners in the Premier League – an abysmal stat that you’d expect to see from a player at a relegation-threatened club. In fact, Lacazette hasn’t scored a single away goal against any of the 19 other Premier League teams since April 2018 against Newcastle, since his 4 away goals last season came against the 3 relegated sides (Fulham x2, Huddersfield, Cardiff).
Mesut Ozil, on the other hand, has not assisted a single goal away from home in over 2 years.
January 30th, 2018 was the last time he did it, to be specific – 1 day before signing his massive contract extension, which will likely go down as one of Arsenal’s worst pieces of business in the modern era.
https://twitter.com/AFCGally/status/1223996474905841664
Perhaps the most baffling thing about Lacazette’s run in the first-team is that it has forced Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to play at left-wing, where he is rather ineffective. Pushing your best player, captain, and only goal threat away from home to the wing to accomodate a player who gets squashed in away games makes utterly no sense.
Also, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka were forming a lovely partnership on the left flank, and that has now been uprooted, as Martinelli was moved to an unfamiliar right-wing position against Burnley, and obviously did not perform.
Arsenal have won just 1 match away from home since the opening day of the season, making it 2 in total, and that win came against West Ham at the London Stadium. Funny enough, Lacazette was not starting that day. The front 3 was Martinelli at left-wing, Pepe at right-wing, and Aubameyang as the #9. All 3 players were on the scoresheet that day, in a match that proved what the front 3 at Arsenal should always look like – A Gabonese flanked by an Ivorian and a Brazilian.
It’s time for Mikel Arteta to start picking his teams on merit rather than reputation – which would result in benchings for both Lacazette and Ozil, who have been nicking a living pretty much all season long.