Former Manchester City striker Shaun Goater believes that Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette could be like Ian Wright if he’s given more chances.
Ex-City striker Goater scored over 100 league goals in his time with the Sky Blues. He had a lot of praise for Lacazette’s qualities in his interview with Sky Sports via the Express, saying: “Lively player, a finisher. Left foot, right foot, perhaps heading isn’t his strength but give him the opportunity and he will finish it.”
“He’s certainly in a team where you’d expect him to score a lot of goals. It’s an Arsenal team that creates a lot of chances but he hasn’t had a lot of chances in his early days at Arsenal. But I do like him, he is like Ian Wright. Very much in the same image, a quality player.”The early signs are that Goater is right to put this kind of praise on Lacazette’s finishing abilities. He scored a couple in pre-season, then was only denied by the post on his competitive debut against Chelsea, scored on his league debut and then was denied by a controversial offside against Stoke.
But it’s also true that Lacazette hasn’t been given enough chances so far. In fact, every single chance he’s had in the league has, directly or indirectly, led to a goal. Of course his first chance against Leicester he put away with a well-placed header. Then, when Alexandre’s second shot in that match was blocked, it fell at the feet of Sead Kolašinac, who squared for Welbeck to score.Finally, his third shot of the game was well saved by Kasper Schmeichel, but Giroud scored from the resulting corner. Against Stoke, the former Lyon man wasn’t given a single opportunity. The only time he did get the ball in a shooting position was that offside chance, which he fired into the top of the net.
Arsenal’s midfielders certainly have the ability to create chances for the French international, perhaps it’s just a case of getting in sync with each other as the season progresses.
