Arsenal

Comparing Arsenal's win percentage with and without Alexandre Lacazette

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 09 April 2020

Sports Mole takes a statistical look at Arsenal's win percentage with and without Alexandre Lacazette in the starting lineup this season.

The make-up of Arsenal's strike force for the 2020-21 season remains uncertain with speculation mounting regarding the future of captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The Gabon international is Arsenal's top scorer but will enter the final 12 months of his contract this summer, and the two parties are understood to be some way apart in their negotiations over a new salary for the 30-year-old.

Aubameyang has often featured in a wide left position this season with Alexandre Lacazette through the middle, but since the turn of the year the Frenchman has seen his place in the team come under threat.

Lacazette has not started a Premier League game since February 2, with Eddie Nketiah's return from a loan spell at Leeds United providing more competition for places, and the stats appear to back up Mikel Arteta's decisions.

Arsenal have won just two of the 15 Premier League games Lacazette has started this season, whereas they have already won three matches with Nketiah in the starting XI - incidentally the youngster's only top-flight starts of the campaign.

That means that Arsenal boast a 100% win ratio with Nketiah in the starting lineup, whereas with Lacazette leading the line they have a win percentage of just 13.3%.

The Gunners have won five of the eight league games in which Lacazette has not featured at all this season - a win percentage of 62.5%.

Counting all league matches in which he has not started, but may have come on as a sub, Arsenal have still won a significantly higher proportion of games (53.8%) without the 28-year-old in the XI than with him.

Of course, the uncertainty surrounding Aubameyang's future means that more responsibility could soon fall on the shoulders of Lacazette, who has seven goals from his 20 Premier League appearances this season.

However, the win percentages will be a concern for Arteta and could see him lean more towards Nketiah as his first-choice striker going forward.