Alexandre Lacazette has barely found his goalscoring boots at Arsenal, but he might not need them after his brilliant performance against Manchester City.
The 29-year-old Frenchman was originally signed for his goals, but hasn’t managed all that many, failing to score 15 goals in a Premier League season during his three years at Arsenal.
Then, along came goalscoring supremo Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, which put a question mark over Lacazette’s role and future in the side.
If he wasn’t scoring goals, what was he there for?
However, since the restart, Lacazette has shown exactly what he can do in an alternative role as Mikel Arteta has unearthed a system that works for both strikers.
In the Gunners’ first goal against Manchester City on Sunday, Lacazette was crucial.
He receives the ball from Kieran Tierney 10 yards inside City’s half, and his first touch takes him back towards goal. This hardly seems like the work of a striker, but Lacazette’s touch took him away from three City defenders and his second brought Hector Bellerin into play down the right. There are 18 passes in the build-up, but Lacazette’s is the one that turns defence into attack.
Bellerin then plays in Nicolas Pepe, and Lacazette jogs from midfield into the box. Again, this is unconventional for a striker, but it’s Lacazette’s movement that keeps Aymeric Laporte busy and Kyle Walker distracted and allows Aubemeyang ample space to drop off the right-back and finish. 1-0.
Players that move like this are a complete headache for defenders. They drop deep enough to help overwhelm in midfield and play it forward and then pop up again later in the box to cause chaos and distraction.
Roberto Firmino does this week in, week out for Liverpool. He is also yet to hit more than 15 for Liverpool in five seasons with the club, but he can finish so defenders can’t leave him alone. His movement then diverts attention away from the biggest danger men of all.
Ask almost anyone, Liverpool fans and neutrals alike, and they’ll tell you Firmino is underrated, that he is an absolutely vital part of what makes the current Liverpool team so completely destructive.
The Brazilian drops deep, and two of the world’s best wingers run either side of him. Liverpool don’t play with a Kevin de Bruyne or Bruno Fernandes. They don’t have a creator-in-chief because they don’t need one. Their striker does all that.
This is what Arsenal fans want and need Lacazette to be, especially with Mesut Ozil’s first-team future in doubt.
With this system, like Liverpool, Arsenal can focus on filling the midfield with workhorses and rely on Lacazette to bring their two wingers into play before providing them with support.
He may not be at Firmino’s level in this role yet, but give Lacazette time to learn the position and the system and Arsenal, with Nicolas Pepe and Aubemeyang on the wings, could have a system to rival the champions, and perhaps even usurp them.
