Arsenal Vs Burnley: Alexandre Lacazette backs up opening statement

Last week, in the North London derby win over Spurs, for the first time this season, Alexandre Lacazette showed that he is more than just a goalscorer. On Sunday, the Arsenal striker backed up his opening statement.

Alexandre Lacazette came to Arsenal with a somewhat esteemed reputation. The Frenchman, who was a one-club man having graduated from the Lyon youth ranks, was hot property. Arsene Wenger was not alone in his hunt for a new centre-forward, and Lacazette was the solution that many others had highlighted to their own striking problems.

Related Story: Arsenal Vs Burnley: 5 things we learned

The competition for his signature was born out of his relentless scoring. As is increasingly the case in the modern game, the goals-to-game ratio that every centre-forward strives to improve was something that Lacazette had mastered. It was the reason that he had found favour with a great many teams.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

In the last three full seasons at Lyon, in 97 Ligue 1 games, Lacazette had scored a remarkable 76 games. Not only was he scoring a lot of goals consistently, but he was doing so over an extended period of time. That is a very rare combination. And since coming to North London, Lacazette has continued his rich vein of scoring, rippling the net four times in his first six starts, including a glanced header against Leicester City on the opening night of the season.

But in the past two weeks, Lacazette has shown another side to his game that does not necessarily align with the reputation that he arrived with. First, against Spurs, in last weekend’s North London derby, and then again during the 1-0 win against Burnley on Sunday.Lacazette displayed a link-up ability, a creativity, a ball-playing skill that suggests he is more than just the goals that he scores.

Burnley’s sizable and stifling defence should have been a struggle for the slighter Lacazette, who likes to wriggle his way into pockets of space, rather than be embroiled in a physical battle. But that was not the case. Although Lacazette did not score on the day, throughout the match, his little touches, his distribution, his first-time layoffs added a fluency to what was a clunky Arsenal attack with Mesut Ozil on the sidelines thanks to a rather odd illness.

And this performance backed up his creative and probing display against Spurs. Lacazette was essential to the all-around attacking play, with his intelligent movement into the channels a particular problem for the Spurs’ back-three, who did not want to commit themselves to pressing the ball in areas where they could be exposed.

Next: Arsenal Vs Burnley: Player ratings

Lacazette was billed as a goalscorer. He is very much that. But in the last two weeks, he has proven that he is more than just putting the ball in the net. He is a more rounded player than a mere finisher, and it’s everything that Arsenal need.