Arsenal legend Thierry Henry feels his former side need to make adjustments to their playing style to get the best from Alexandre Lacazette.

The 24-year-old French international marked his debut for the North Londoners with a bold performance that was topped off with a precise headed goal. He will undoubtedly be hoping that it is the first of many, as he competes among the favourites with bigfreebet.com for the Golden Boot this term.

Despite opening his account for his new side, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has raised concerns that the club needs to adopt a more direct style of play at times, if they are to optimise the returns from Lacazette.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Henry highlighted his belief that Granit Xhaka could be vital to successfully implementing this tactical adjustment. He commented: “Xhaka has it in his locker to play that ball over the top, he has an amazing left foot. If he has time on the ball he does not need to play through the middle sometimes.

“Why do you want to play what I call ‘the Arsenal ball’ to the winger who comes in the pocket? Why don’t you play the other ball? That’s the best ball in the game because you go straight to goal. They don’t like it.

“Does he lose the ball? No, he doesn’t lose the ball. Does it look pretty? Yes, it looks pretty, but we want to go to goal. That’s where we want to go. Can he play that pass? It is not difficult for Xhaka. They are going to have to learn with Lacazette.”

Lacazette, who joined the Gunners in a deal purportedly worth up to £52.6 million (when factoring in add-ons) netted an impressive 28 goals in 30 league matches last term as he hit his personal objective of scoring 100 league goals for his hometown club Olympique Lyonnais.

If Arsenal can keep hold of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil and create a tactical set-up that harnesses the obvious goalscoring ability of their new signing, then it seems they will be odds-on favourites for an immediate return to the Champions League.

Despite the fears that a failure to qualify for the European competition for the first time in 20 years could lead to a mass exodus of the club’s stars over the summer, Arsenal have seemingly overseen a relatively successful transfer window compared to some of their competitors – appearing to have retained key players whilst strengthening key areas of the squad.

While the arrival of Bosnian international Sead Kolašinac on a free transfer from Schalke has represented a piece of shrewd business form the club, it is the record signing of Lacazette that excited the Arsenal faithful.