Unai Emery has insisted he is capable of managing the demands for game time among his Arsenal stars after Alexandre Lacazette appeared to hint at some unhappiness over his substitution on Thursday night.
Lacazette may have scored Arsenal's only goal in their 1-0 Europa League quarter-final second leg win over Napoli on Thursday but that did not prevent him from being substituted by Emery, who withdrew the French striker for Alex Iwobi in the 70th minute.
It has been a recurring theme for Lacazette since he joined Arsenal in the summer of 2017. Since then he has been substituted in 33 of 62 starts he has made in all competitions.
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Speaking after the match Lacazette told French media after the game that he "could be happier", though he also said: "I am happy when I play, of course, like any player.
"When I’m on the pitch, of course there is joy. On the field and off, I keep smiling. You have to smile in life."
However Emery, who has gained a reputation for tinkering with his sides that has seen him earn 17 points from 32 changes this season according to club statistics, is prepared to make the right decision for his team even if it upsets key players.
And the Arsenal head coach pointed to the example of Petr Cech, whose game time is confined to the Europa League despite impressive performances, as an example others could learn from.
"Every player wants to play each match for 90 minutes, but as a manager I need to use the player in the best moment," Emery said. "Maybe sometimes that is playing 90 minutes, maybe sometimes that is starting on the bench. But to convince the player that is very difficult.
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"When I was speaking about two important strikers, Lacazette and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, sometimes our performances are better with both, but sometimes our big performances are better with only one, and after they make an impact replacing another striker.
"This is because the idea and the system of the opposition gives us the idea to do something different. To convince the player that is the most difficult thing, but I am very proud of both because they are scoring a lot, they are playing a lot, and sometimes they are starting as both, and sometimes they are just starting as one.
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"This is the first reason I take this decision with the players, and it’s the same reason we started playing with Cech, who gave us good performances before his injury, before we started playing [Bernd] Leno, who gave us good and important performances also.
"After we can use both in different competitions and I’m very proud of Petr Cech with how he’s keeping his performances in each match in the Europa League and helping us in the end of his career with big behaviour and big commitment. This is an example for other players and it’s a position where we can use two players for the same position."
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