Despite appearing to have a quieter match compared to his debut on Thursday, Alexandre Lacazette simply displayed another strength against Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.
- Arsenal won 3-1 with goals from Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Mohamed Elneny
- How Lacazette took 14 minutes to show that Giroud is Arsenal’s Plan B
- Player focus: Fans already loving Lacazette
Lacazette may not have scored within 15 minutes of being on the pitch like he did against Sydney FC but the 26-year-old still demonstrated how he can be useful to the team against Western Sydney Wanderers during Arsenal’s second pre-season match down under.
The striker, who played behind Olivier Giroud this time as part of a 3-4-2-1 formation, only took three minutes to impress Arsenal fans with an impressive turn around a WSW player, which led to him getting a shot away.
The France international’s movement around the area and darting runs in which he linked up with Alex Iwobi and, later on, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, were impressive, especially considering this is only his second appearance with his new team.
Just as Lacazette was brought on in the second half of the first game, which saw him score his first goal in an Arsenal shirt, he was subbed off in the 66th minute against WSW.
There seems to be plenty more to come from the striker, whether that’s up front or behind Giroud slightly. His movement and style fits in well with the rest of the squad and considering he’s only just getting to know the lads, I’d say his future seems pretty bright.
Arsene Wenger likes forwards who can assist as well as score, which Lacazette appears to be able to do. Although time will tell. He ‘only’ assisted five over all competitions last season compared to his 37 goals.
Arsenal are now set to travel to China to play Bayern Munich and Chelsea, and this will be a far more accurate test of how Lacazette will play for Arsenal.