Arsenal Vs CSKA Moscow: Confident Alexandre Lacazette a game-changer

Alexandre Lacazette is exuding confidence, scoring another two on Thursday night against CSKA Moscow. The Arsenal striker is a game-changer for this team.

Since his return from knee surgery after the international break, Alexandre Lacazette has played 103 minutes of football — 29 from off the bench against Stoke City; 74 as a starter in the 4-1 win over CSKA Moscow in the Europa League on Thursday night. He has already scored three goals. The Arsenal striker, when fit, firing, and confident is a game-changer for this team.

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Admittedly, of those three goals, two have come from the penalty spot, the first of which was due to the humble and team-first subsiding of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who could have very well demanded that he take it given that he was searching for his first hat-trick since his January move to the club.

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Nevertheless, his touch and finish for the second goal against CSKA, his third since his return, was outstanding, displaying the nous, assurance, and quality that is required to exploit the tight spaces that exist in modern-day penalty areas. The cut-back pass from Mesut Ozil had fizz on it. It needed it to veer through a sea of defensive legs and make its way to Lacazette. The first touch killed it, leaving just a little bounce off the floor for a left-footed, sliced, angled shot to arrow into the bottom corner. This was by no means an easy finish.

And in both appearances, Lacazette has shown a sharpness and strength to his moving that was previously absent. He has won several fouls by holding off the defender, shielding the ball, before spinning into space, only to be felled as the threat of the counter-attack loomed. His hold-up play has been good in general, bringing others into play, using his low centre-of-gravity to create space for himself with sharp turns with the ball at his feet, and he has provided a drive and direction to an otherwise aimless, sideways attack, especially from off the bench against Stoke.

In a word, the Frenchman looks confident in all that he does. He does not look hesitant or overly-cautious. He has wavered in his decision-making. He has been certain and assertive, willing to take risks even if his prior attempts did not quite have the desired effect. And that, for Arsenal, is a game-changer.

While Aubameyang is perhaps the better all-round player with a more prolific goalscoring record in a tougher league, Lacazette offers a different option to the Gabon international. Aubameyang will happily sit on the peripheries of matches, not needing to have regular touches of the ball, only looking to get involved in the play as it nears the penalty area and a potential goalscoring chance.

Lacazette is not like that. He is more nuanced in his play. He wants to be involved. His position is much more fluid and he is far happier to drop deep, distribute, before bounding into the box for the subsequent through-pass or cross. Having the two in the same squad and available, then, changes Arsenal’s point-of-attack. They now have a greater versatility than simply throwing another athletic type in Danny Welbeck onto the pitch in the hope that the same approach but with different personnel might reap the rewards.

Next: Arsenal Vs CSKA Moscow: 5 things we learned

This all leads to Arsene Wenger’s plight in trying to squeeze both into the same team. It is a conundrum that he has not yet solved, though hinted at a wide-role for Aubameyang as a possible answer. Notwithstanding, this is a good problem to have, a problem that displays the threat and flexiblity of this attack, and it’s all thanks to the return of the game-changing Lacazette.

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