Arsene Wenger's tactical plan for Henrikh Mkhitaryan at Arsenal is to 'just play the good players'

Arsene Wenger has a simple approach to fitting Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil into the same Arsenal side: “Just play the good players.”

Mkhitaryan is set to join Arsenal in a straight swap deal that will send Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United, with the Armenian playmaker in London to complete a medical on Sunday.

The 29-year-old struggled to make the grade under Jose Mourinho but established himself as one of Europe’s foremost creators during three seasons with Borussia Dortmund, scoring 27 goals and adding a further 34 assists in all competitions.

Wenger has never been against stocking his side with attacking talent but should interest in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang come to fruition Arsenal will have a further attacking options expecting regular roles in the starting XI.

In particular, Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil are both considered to be creators rather than finishers whilst Aubameyang’s pace gives him a similar profile to last summer’s record signing Alexandre Lacazette, who scored his first goal since December 2 in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Crystal Palace.

Asked how he could fit Mkhitaryan and Ozil into the same team Wenger said: “Just play the good players! They can always play together.

"Today what have you on the pitch? They’re all attacking players. [Alex] Iwobi, Ozil, [Jack] Wilshere, Lacazette, [Granit] Xhaka. They’re all offensive players, basically.”

As for a system that fits in Aubameyang and Lacazette: “We are not as far as that to think about that problem!”

Dortmund confirmed on Saturday an approach from Arsenal for Aubameyang, a former BVB team-mate of Mkhitaryan, but Wenger insisted later in the day that the club were “nowhere near” signing the Gabon striker.

The Bundesliga outfit are willing to sell one of their star players given recent disciplinary problems, which resulted in a number of removals from matchday squads in recent months, and Arsenal are able to match his wages.

“Look, we have a strong squad that doesn’t only depend on one player,” Wenger said. “If Alexis Sanchez goes somebody else will come in who has quality.

“It’s not a case of us only losing a player, we gain a player. We are still active on the transfer market. We still try to bring players in.

“The advantage of that whole [Sanchez] situation is that we get a player in [Mkhitaryan] who has a long contract and is committed to do well.”