Alexandre Lacazette made a very promising Arsenal debut in Thursday’s pre-season friendly against Sydney FC.
The 80,000 fans who turned up excited to see the French international play his first game for Arsenal would’ve been disappointed to see him start on the bench. But when he came on in the 68th minute, there was plenty to get excited about.
At first, Arsenal’s club record signing seemed to be keen just to find his feet, playing a few safe passes. But it didn’t take long for him to get more involved in the game.
The first significant contribution from the 26-year-old was to skip past a Sydney defender, who brought him down for a free-kick in a dangerous position.
He followed this up by winning the ball back a couple of times and later playing a lovely through-ball for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, showing off two of his overlooked attributes.
But of course, the cherry on top was the goal. With Alex Iwobi breaking away down the right-hand-side, Lacazette sprinted into position, and Iwobi picked him out for a clinical finish.
Lacazette's debut goal for @Arsenal
[@ArsenalTerje] #afc #arsenalinsydney pic.twitter.com/Nd7EQK55Ul
— Urban Arsenal (@ArsenalUrban) July 13, 2017
It was a case of being in the right place at the right time, an attribute all top strikers seem to have
The only regret will be that he wasn’t on the pitch when Arsenal were awarded a penalty, as Lacazette’s penalty record for Lyon was strong and Danny Welbeck’s effort was easily saved by Andrew Redmayne.
However it was perhaps for the best given that the penalty was incorrectly awarded in the first place.
Overall, Alexandre can be very pleased with his first 22 minutes in an Arsenal shirt. Hopefully he can follow it up with another good performance on Saturday.