Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette will benefit long-term from goal drought

Alexandre Lacazette has finally seen his goal drought to a close, but both he and Arsenal may be better off because it happened at all.

If there is one thing Alexandre Lacazette is not used to, it’s not scoring. Throughout his career at Lyon, he has been one of the more consistent scorers, not just in France, but in the world. That’s why Arsenal purchased him. Consistency from strikers is not a usual thing from a club that relied on Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck.

So when that first goal drought inevitably struck, there was concern. Eight games without a goal. And while there was still positive contributions from the Frenchman, he was wasting some pretty pristine chances.

It wasn’t helped on by the questionable situations of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, both of whom’s futures weren’t worked out.

But this is part of the growing process. Coming to the Premier League and expecting to carry on straight-away from Ligue 1 is unrealistic. There were going to be bumps in the road.

And we also have the benefit of hindsight. This is the worst goal drought he has suffered since 2013 when he was just 23 years old. It was his first “full-time” year with Lyon and he suffered a nine-game goalless drought that ended October 3rd. In total, he amassed three goals in eleven games by the end of that drought.

He went on to total 21 goals that season.

That was the worst it has ever been. Next to that was his struggle in the 2015/16 season where he scored eight goals in the first half but came on strong and 15 in the second half, but even in that first half, he was never in a massive drought. You could consider that his big coming of age moment. It was in the next year that he truly blossomed.

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The struggles shrunk and shrunk. The droughts did too.

Don’t be surprised if this doesn’t happen again for quite some time, perhaps never again. I’m not going to say that Lacazette was irresponsible with his chances in that drought, but there was a certain wastefulness in it. I can’t stop seeing his failed chip against Southampton as I write this.

Again, he was in a rut, I’m not trying to bash him. But I do think that he will perhaps be more appreciative and more clinical knowing how short his time with Mesut Ozil may be (and other players, for that matter).

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Lacazette just isn’t the kind of striker who is going to go on frequent scoring droughts. He has proven that more than once.