With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang dropped after his latest disciplinary breach, Arsenal needed other attackers to step up for its big Premier League match against top-four rival West Ham on Wednesday.
Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe did just that in a 2-0 win at Emirates Stadium.
Replacing Aubameyang as captain, Lacazette played a perfectly weighted throughball and the 20-year-old Martinelli — delivering a fine impression of Arsenal's ostracized striker — burst through down the left and produced a precise finish into the far corner.
Then, Smith Rowe, another of Arsenal's talented youngsters, entered as a substitute and put away another clinical finish at the end of a counter attack in the 87th minute.
Arsenal was dominant for large spells — the margin should have been heavier, with Lacazette later missing a penalty when the score was 1-0 — to show that life after Aubameyang is nothing to be feared.
Indeed, the result lifted Arsenal above West Ham and into fourth place, the final Champions League qualification position.
Wolverhampton won 1-0 at Brighton while Crystal Palace and Southampton drew 2-2 on a night in which another Premier League game — Burnley-Watford — was postponed because of a coronavirus outbreak.
