There is the tantalising possibility that Arsenal manager Unai Emery could unleash both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette from the start in Saturday evening's Premier League clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and the partnership could herald the dawn of an exciting new era for the North London side.
Emery's predecessor, Arsene Wenger, rarely played both Lacazette and Aubameyang together in the same side last season as he often erred on the side of caution despite their hugely impressive statistics when playing in the same team together.
Since February, Aubameyang and Lacazette have played 314 minutes of Premier League football together...
In that time, Lacazette has scored 5 goals and laid on 1 assist
Aubameyang has scored 5 goals and delivered 3 assists
It is Aubameyang who has made the more favourable impression since signing for the Gunners from Borussia Dortmund for a club record £57m, although he has yet to produce the goods in a big game.
The Gabon forward boasts an impressive return of 10 goals from 14 league appearances, but six of those ten have arrived against teams that went on to finish in the bottom-half of the table last season. His other goals were a brace in a 5-0 romp against Burnley, a goal in a 5-1 thrashing of Everton, and what amounted to no more than a consolation in the 3-1 defeat to Leicester.
The 29-year-old as now played four games against the traditional 'big-five' in the Premier League and he has drawn a blank each time, most recently in the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City last weekend. There are of course mitigating circumstances to that statistic as Arsenal tend to perform woefully against the better teams in the division - they won just two of their ten meetings with Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool last season - but Aubameyang could do with producing the goods against the better sides if he is to avoid the tag of being a 'flat track bully'.
The striker doesn't give the impression that he particularly enjoys leading the line on his own as he is keen to make runs in behind, get into goalscoring positions, but he doesn't want to have to drop deep to join the play. Aubameyang is far more effective when coming in from the left.
Lacazette enjoys playing as the central forward and the 27-year-old is desperate to enhance a return of 14 goals from 33 league appearances for the Gunners so far.
Aubameyang has spoken previously about how much he enjoys playing with Lacazette and it is a partnership that should be allowed to flourish, starting against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
