When you arrive at a club for big money the expectations are equally as weighty and no-one knows that better than Alexandre Lacazette.
The France international joined Arsenal from Lyon last summer for a then club record fee of £46.5million, but hasn’t produced as many goalscoring moments as Arsene Wenger would have liked over the past few months – but his past two games have showed that he is more than capable of leading the Gunners to Europa League glory, following an impressive brace and performance against CSKA Moscow.
Lacazette went nine games without scoring in January before undergoing knee surgery weeks later which kept him on the sidelines for over a month. Despite a goal on his debut against Leicester at the start of the season, the 26-year-old hasn’t replicated the kind of form he was known for with Lyon where he earned the nickname ‘Penazette’ for his effectiveness from the penalty spot.
Two penalties converted in his last two games certainly backs up that nickname but his brace against CSKA Moscow was only his 12th goal in 31 matches for the north London side.
Arsenal’s performance against the Russians encapsulated what has been a familiar theme in recent seasons – an early goal followed by a manic few minutes where they concede and almost go 2-1 down.
Fortunately for the Gunners, their saving grace is the attacking quartet led by Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey who dominated the game with their passing and powerful running, the latter scoring a wonderful goal after flicking the ball over Igor Akinfeev from Ozil’s pin-point ball.
Ozil was undoubtedly man of the match despite an equally impressive wondershow from Ramsey, but the biggest plus point from the game will surely be Lacazette’s goal which gives him further confidence to build on and help Arsenal finish the season strongly.
Wenger admitted recently that the Frenchman wasn’t at his best earlier on in the campaign due to his injury.
“I realise now when I see him in training that he was not himself for a while,” said Wenger. “It was not dramatically different before. He was a good player. But I think in the last seven or eight games he played, he was not completely free with his knee.
“Unfortunately, in our job you need your body and when you are not 100 per cent you cannot play well. It’s good to have him back because it gives us different opportunities. Danny [Welbeck] is more a guy who goes behind, whereas Lacazette is more combination play, so to have both options is important.”
The signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would have felt like a hammer blow to Lacazette but he has received a stroke of luck with the Gabon striker being cup tied in European competition.
Over the coming weeks it is vital that his knee is managed carefully so as to ensure he stays fully fit for a Europa League campaign which Arsenal genuinely look like they are able to win.
