Arsenal are a team in the midst of a transitional period.Mikel Arteta has been manager of the club for less than a year and already, the Spaniard has instigated some serious changes in north London.The Gunners are no longer a pushover defensively and they are actually competitive in matches against the Premier League's top six, beating Manchester United at Old Trafford two weekends ago.Arteta's Arsenal also won the FA Cup at the end of last season, but despite that success and the aforementioned change of attitude in big games, there's still an air of negativity lingering at the Emirates.Much of that is down to the team's noticeable lack of creativity and attacking threat, an issue that was evident for the world to see in last Sunday's 3-0 loss to Aston Villa at the Emirates.
Arsenal's forward line just couldn't lay a glove on Villa's defence, with star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang not mustering a single shot on goal.Alexandre Lacazette didn't fair much better, the French striker missing his one golden chance to level the score at 1-1 just before the half-time break.The Gunners' striking pair look a pale shadow of their former selves and a rather embarrassing stat concerning the duo has now emerged.
This season, Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire has had more shots on goal than both Aubameyang and Lacazette - two more than the latter.
There's no possible way to sugarcoat that stat and it's an issue that Arteta has to address as a matter of urgency.
An obvious solution would be to drop the out-of-form Lacazette, move Aubameyang to the central striking role and deploy a more creative player out on the left like Bukayo Saka or Reiss Nelson.
It would also probably be beneficial to demote summer signing Willian to the bench after the Brazilian's hapless performance against Villa.
Nicolas Pepe may be inconsistent and infuriating to watch at times, but at least the Ivorian is capable of scoring goals and creating chances from open play.