I must admit that I was a little concerned about the Arsenal summer signing Alexandre Lacazette in pre-season, as he seemed to be a bit out of touch and perhaps even out of his depth. Our former winger and current coach Robert Pires had suggested that it could take some time for the forward to get used to the move from the French Ligue 1 to the English Premier League and although I could understand that it was not what Arsenal fans wanted to hear as we look to finally reclaim the EPL trophy.
So the last couple of appearances from Lacazette have been very encouraging for the Gunners and whereas I thought previously that Arsene Wenger might ease the new striker into Premier League and first team life with Arsenal, I think we can now expect Lacazette to start the opening game at home to Leicester City on Friday and to quickly show just why the boss broke the club’s transfer record to sign him.
The France international may not have scored against Chelsea yesterday, but it was only the post that denied him a brilliant individual goal that he started from deep and so nearly finished. His touch, movement and link up play was great and a big part of why the Gunners bossed the first period and looked a threat for most of the match.
This was without the creative skills of Ozil behind him as well, so when Wenger is able to field his strongest side with Alexis Sanchez and Ramsey as well, Lacazette looks to me like he is ready to really push us on to a proper title challenge. Do you agree?
Bob.