Morata, Lacazette deserve patience in maiden English campaigns

Compared to the footballing debauchery on display between the two sides the previous week at the Emirates Stadium, Wednesday's meeting between Chelsea and Arsenal had the feel of a staggering, stumbling walk home in the early hours. Each attacker on the park was like a drunk vacuously trying to stab the wrong key into the wrong front door - something Alex Iwobi may sympathise with given his alleged partying two days before the Gunners' pitiful FA Cup exit at Nottingham Forest on Sunday. It seemed no amount of fried breakfasts and television binges under blankets could have staved off a hangover from last Wednesday's 2-2 thriller and subsequent disappointing cup results for both teams.

Naturally, rather than Iwobi, many in the media will feel inclined to hone in on the most expensive strikers on the pitch when a turgid goalless draw is dragged out. Alvaro Morata and Alexandre Lacazette combined for 53 touches and one shot on target at Stamford Bridge. Morata has five goals across all competitions since the end of September and hasn't netted in his last four appearances, while the ineffectual Lacazette was mercifully substituted midway through the second half and therefore unable to add to his 594 competitive minutes without a goal for Arsenal.

Both players have slipped into their respective slumps after promising starts for their new clubs, but the British newspapers' back pages are unforgiving when it comes to expensive acquisitions - especially when they cost a collective £106.5 million.

An interesting aspect of Morata's and Lacazette's difficult patches is that there is little opportunity for Antonio Conte and Arsene Wenger to take their expensive recruits out of the spotlight. Conte's mistrust in backup Michy Batshuayi is obvious, and there is pressure to regularly field Lacazette while Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil enter the final months of their contracts. Lacazette is meant to be the next hero in north London.

That is something that could be an advantage for these misfiring artillerymen. When confidence is low, a manager's unwavering faith and minutes to rediscover a rhythm are commonly the ingredients that spur an upturn in form.

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

There are obvious elements of the strikers' respective games that are quintessentially British as well, and they should allow each player to become consistent goalscorers for years to come.

Both are deceptively strong and competent with their backs to goal - a quality of Morata which has been a particular benefit to Eden Hazard in spells of this season. Lacazette should find his unheralded dribbling prowess soon and start to make inroads less familiar to a traditional No. 9 - opening up space for forward-thinking colleagues - and also has the precious knack of dropping a shoulder to lose defenders in close quarters. Morata, meanwhile, needs to find that cutting edge in one-on-one situations - he notoriously fluffed three glorious chances in last week's enthralling encounter at Arsenal - but is already an England-pleasing menace in the air.

Considering this is Morata's first term in his career as a bona fide starter, 10 goals and four assists over 19 league appearances is a strong return. It's also a record Didier Drogba yearned for in his difficult early seasons at Stamford Bridge. The Ivorian revealed the difficulties of acclimatising to English football when discussing issues Diego Costa was working through in 2015.

"It took me time to adapt to English football - the intensity, the contact, and the way the referees referee the game," Drogba admitted to the Evening Standard's Giuseppe Muro. "Diego saw last year that this league is very strong and competitive. Not that the Spanish league is not competitive, but this league is completely different and you can lose against the team that is 16th in the table."

Morata and Lacazette are on course to comfortably out-score four of Drogba's opening five Premier League campaigns. At their current rate, they'll be in esteemed company when it comes to goals tallied in a debut English season, and have all the attributes for longevity in this oft-unforgiving climate of headline-hungry journalists, defenders like Ryan Shawcross, and supposedly hungover teammates.