Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette offers what has been painfully absent

Alexandre Lacazette scored both goals in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Monday night. The Frenchman offers what has been painfully absent for the Gunners for many years: a goal poacher.

A 2-0 win over a difficult and disciplined West Bromwich Albion team is not to be scoffed at. Tony Pulis’ sides always offer a unique challenge. They are physically strong and athletic, they are positionally astute in their defending, and they can suffocate the life out of games like few other teams can. And while Arsenal did have moments of vulnerability, particularly in the first half, they nonetheless achieved the victory and earned the three points.

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They achieved said victory thanks to two goals from Alexandre Lacazette, both of which, while simple, were confidently dispatched.

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The first showcased his sharpness in movement and alertness in thinking. As Alexis Sanchez’s delicately clipped freekick was palmed onto the crossbar by Ben Foster, it was Lacazette who was alive to the chance of a goal. He darted in front of the West Brom defence, anticipating the rebound, and met the ball with a confident header, nodding it past Foster who was stranded on the floor. The second was a penalty, something that he has excelled at throughout his career. Opening his body out, Lacazette, with conviction, power and precision, planted an effort into the bottom corner with the instep of his right foot. Foster guessed the right way, but the shot was too accurate for his outstretched hand to tip wide of the far post.

Neither of Lacazette’s goals were especially outstanding. They did not rely on brilliant pieces of play, they were not created with a sumptuous turn of skill or an incisive pass or a shimmy and shake past a defender. They simply came from anticipatory striking and ruthless finishing.

That is exactly what Lacazette offers Arsenal. He is a natural goal poacher; a prolific goal scorer. And that is something that the Gunners have been missing since Robin van Persie controversially left the club in the summer of 2012.

For all of Olivier Giroud’s qualities, he is far from a clinical finisher and consistent goal scorer. He enjoys runs of prolificacy throughout the season, often dominating the lesser sides, before suffering barren runs of form in front of goal, going especially, and worryingly, quiet against the better teams, stifled by the lesser share of possession and smarter defenders.

Lacazette, on the other hand, as his record throughout his career and his early prominence so far this season proves, is a natural born goal scorer. He may not have the same hold-up ability of other centre-forwards; he may not have the out-of-nothing goal creating skill of some other of his counterparts. But he is an excellent finisher, with a knack for knowing where the goal is.

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The greater goal threat that Lacazette provides is a game-changer for the Arsenal attack. Pairing him with the creativity of Mesut Ozil and the darting bursts of Alexis Sanchez is a tantalising prospect, one that could be extremely prosperous this season.