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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Mikel Arteta's ruthless message that could be bad news for Alexandre Lacazette at Arsenal

Alexandre Lacazette appears to be in hot water with Arsenal.

This is in relation to images emerging - via the Daily Star on Saturday night [May 16] - of him inhaling from balloons and it's not the first time this has happened since joining the north London outfit.

18 months ago he was seen alongside teammates Mesut Ozil, Matteo Guendouzi and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and was issued a warning for using nitrous oxide.

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And the official word is that the Gunners are taking this latest incident very seriously.

"This is a private matter which we are taking seriously. It will be handled internally," a club spokesman told football.london in response to the situation arising.

But could Lacazette's punishment lead to him being sold in the summer transfer window?

Well, judging by Mikel Arteta's vow when he was appointed as head coach last December about players and respect, it could be that the France international has a big fight on his hands.

"The first thing is a little bit to change the energy," Arteta said. "Last week I was here with Manchester City and I was a little bit down after the game when I felt what was going on.

"So we have to try to engage everybody, I have to try and convince the players about what I want to do, how I want to do it, they have to start accepting a different process, a different way of thinking, and I want to get all the staff and everybody at the club with the same mindset.

"We have to build a culture that has to sustain the rest. If you don't have the right culture, in the difficult moments, the tree is going to shake, so my job is to convince everybody that this is how we are going to live, and if you are going to be part of this organisation it has to be in these terms and in this way

"I think a lot of external things happened over the past few months that obviously had a knock-on effect on the team, on their relationships and the perception people have on them as a team, how together or not together they are.

"They have to be so united, that dressing room is untouchable. It is first of all about how they live and some respect issues that have to be addressed. If they want to follow that they are in, if not they are out."

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