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Arsenal: Is Alexandre Lacazette Actually The Answer?
According to Sky sources, Arsenal are set to up their offer for Alexandre Lacazette. This leads me to ask, is the Lyon forward actually the answer to the Gunners’ striking problems?
Arsenal have a problem. For a club that is renowned for free flowing, attractive attacking football, bursting with flair, creativity and goals, they have struggled somewhat to score the vast amount goals of years gone by.
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Last season, Arsenal scored 65 goals, good for fourth best in the league behind Spurs, Manchester City and Leicester City. While this value is a tad low – although the ranking is in and around the correct range – it does not tell the whole story.
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Arsenal’s issues with goal scoring come with consistency, rather than the sheer amount. Arsenal failed to score in 21% of games. That means that the Gunners were guaranteed to not win over a fifth of the games they played throughout the season, a figure which is far too high. Contrast this to champions Leicester City who failed to score in only 8% of games.
Arsenal’s issues inconsistent goal scoring perhaps come as a result of having an inconsistent striker. Olivier Giroud, while someone who offers much, is the epitome of a confidence player. When he is playing well, he looks unplayable. When he’s not, he looks as though he should most definitely not be played.
Consequently, Arsenal have had an initial offer for Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette rejected and are now rumored to be prepared to up their offer to secure his services. So, would Lacazette actually solve Arsenal’s striking issues?
Well, not necessarily. In 34 Ligue 1 games that Lacazette played last year, he scored in 14 games, less than 50%. He also suffered two four games stretches without scoring a goal, but was sensational in the latter half of the season, scoring in seven out of ten games with eleven goals, a period of the season that Arsenal are notoriously terrible in.
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While Lacazette is likely an improvement on Giroud, he is not a certain 20+ goal a season striker, especially having never played in England before. Arsenal may well be better served to pursue a goalscoring winger to supplement Giroud rather than a replacement in Lacazette, but only time wil tell.