Alexandre Lacazette and the art of finishing
Rewinding back to the summer of 2017 Arsenal were in search of a striker as their irritation with Giroud has reached its limits. Giroud who never reached his true potential under Arsene Wenger partly due to Arsenal not benefiting from his aerial ability, but mainly due to Ozil occupying the number ten position. Giroud is the type of forward who links up play and therefore requires a midfield runner or a second striker to combine with. Ozil is a play-maker who needs a clinical striker to be on the end of his needle threaded passes. Ozil and Giroud was a marriage that was never meant to be.
The acquisition of Lacazette made sense, a clinical striker who scored 20+ goals in his last three seasons in Ligue 1 and has the ability to combine with midfield runners. He started the season brightly but his form dipped towards the Christmas period and with the addition of Aubameyang his starting place was in doubt.
Snap back to reality and Arsenal are 5th, six points off the top. Unai Emery’s side are unbeaten since the first two games of the season, which were against Manchester City and Chelsea. Emery’s high octane football is beginning to reap its rewards with impressive performances against Fulham, Liverpool and a second half display against Leicester.
However it wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows for Arsenal. They were lucky in some of the games and depended on individual brilliance in others, this is reflected in their xG results. Cech’s saves against Everton, Watford’s wastefulness and Ozil’s Jedi-like performance against Leicester all contributed to Arsenal continuing their unbeaten streak despite the unconvincing performances. The constant contributor though is Alexandre Lacazette, the Frenchman who’s finally finding his form with Arsenal this season scoring 5 goals in 11 games. Not the greatest ratio, but it’s the importance of the goals and the difficulty of the shots.
At Cardiff, Arsenal were twice pegged back and with nine minutes to go the French striker rose. Torreira found Lacazette in the box who swept past Soul Bamba with his left foot touch which enabled him to open his body and be in a striking position. His second was the deadly one though, smashing it into the roof of the net towards the near post. Neil Etheridge was helpless as the ball went past him and Arsenal won the game 3–2.
Next stop on the Lacazette finishing train was Everton. Petr Cech was the man of the match here as he continuously saved Arsenal, stopping shot after shot. In the fifty fifth minute the ball reached Lacazette in the box, he set up the shot with his right foot then curled it into the far post hitting the inside of the post. A finish worth of a painting. Minutes later Arsenal scored the second to finish the game 2–0.
It wasn’t until Arsenal traveled to Craven Cottage that Lacazette struck again. Twice this time. Firstly, with his back to goal he stopped Monreal’s low fizzing cross then rotated ninety degrees to eventually strike it past Bettinelli. 1–0 to the Arsenal. In the 2nd half Welbeck won an aerial dual with Anguissa putting the ball in-front of Lacazette, who quickly adjusted his body and smashed a half volley into the back of the net putting Arsenal into the lead again after Schurrle equalized for Fulham.
Lacazette’s fifth came last Saturday against Liverpool. After Arsenal’s missed chances in the first half Klopp switched to a 4–4–1–1 system with Milner at right wing to neutralize Kolasinac’s bursts forward. Arsenal couldn’t penetrate Liverpool’s compact block until Emery brought on both Welbeck and Iwobi in place of Mkhitaryan and Kolasinac. Iwobi now at left back caused threat with his runs and it was his penetrative pass that found Lacazette. Alisson anticipated the pass and came out quickly but instead of dinking the keeper Lacazette decided to nick the ball away from Alisson. Lacazette was going to shoot once he adjusted his body positioning, but seeing that there was no angle for the shoot he pushed it forward to create the angle. With an opening existing, he curled it into the far post to equalize. 1–1 the game ended continuing Arsenal’s unbeaten streak
Lacazette’s five goals needed a total of ten touches. Usually one to set up the shot, then the shot itself. He needed an extra touch in the Liverpool goal and one less in the half volley against Fulham. His goals were also important in terms of the game state, four of the goals to take the lead and one to equalize.
Lacazette’s clinical finishing gave Arsenal an edge during their unconvincing performances. Now that they are showing signs of progress, can he step up to battle for the Golden Boot ?
