Arsène Wenger has talked about the value of having both Alexandre Lacazette and Olivier Giroud at the club.

Ever since Lacazette signed for Arsenal for a club record fee, there have been questions asked by fans and the media about what this means for Giroud’s future at the club. Giroud had already found his playing time limited by the emergence of Alexis Sanchez at centre-forward in 2016/17.

In Arsenal’s first Premier League game of the new season, Lacazette started and scored not too long after. Giroud came off the bench to bag the winner in a 4-3 victory over Leicester City. And for Wenger, having both players as attacking options is the ideal situation.

He said on Arsenal player: “We saw a lot of variety going forward. I changed a lot during the game and overall I think the players adapted well to what I asked them to do in different positions. In the end the remarkable spirit of people like Olivier Giroud paid off again.”

Despite earlier admitting that leaving Arsenal was a possibility, Giroud eventually committed his future to the club and doesn’t seem to regret this decision. The French international has become one of the most ruthless centre-forwards in Europe when looking at his minutes-per-goal ratio in the last 12 months.

On the pitch, the two Frenchmen linked up well, in particular in the build up to Arsenal’s fourth goal, when Giroud picked out Lacazette whose resulting shot won the corner that brought the goal.

Overall, whatever works best for the team will hopefully be what the players accept, as the needs of individuals can’t come before the needs of the team. But having multiple options is likely to be the best case scenario for an Arsenal side challenging in four fronts. So Wenger will be hoping he can keep the duo happy.