Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette’s pendulum is coming back around

Arsenal are snapping back into form under Mikel Arteta, but Alexandre Lacazette has yet to come in the good. That’s coming though. And soon.

The confidence monster attacks Alexandre Lacazette far more often than we’d like to see. After running away with out player of the season award last season, Lacazette has struggled to get back into top gear as the tumultuous situation at Arsenal finally heads towards a solution.

While we are seeing complete and total resurgences from the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and David Luiz, Lacazette remains the odd ball out of the pack. Nicolas Pepe is finding his form too, but Lacazette, he’s still waiting.

The thing is, with Lacazette it’s like a pendulum. He falls out of form and it goes bad, really bad. But when it turns back around, you can just feel it. It’s almost entirely down to the heart he puts into his play.

When he’s out of form, he looks defeated. When he’s working his way back into form, he’s fighting harder for literally everything—every ball, every duel, every blade of grass.

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Against Manchester United, we saw the fight come back to the Frenchman. He made Harry Maguire look like a peasant more than once, spinning him like a top and finding space. But it wasn’t just through speed. It was through strength too.

Lacazette should by no means be capable of out-muscling Harry Maguire, yet that’s exactly what he did on several occasions. If it wasn’t for poor confidence, Lacazette could have had two goals, easy, and they’d have been unforgettable efforts build by his own perseverance.

But when those chances were missed, you could tell that Lacazette was coming back into the good. His reaction was one of determination, not depression. He didn’t sink his head, he clenched his jaw. Like he wanted more.

This was one of those bridge matches that will see him back into good form. His confidence could only have been buoyed by repeatedly getting the better of an £80m defender. Don’t be surprised if he has a field day next time out. It’s just a ticking time bomb at this point.

Of course, the question then becomes how we prevent such long depressive streaks from happening in the first place. Maybe it all does come down to spurring more effort, and if that’s the case, Mikel Arteta is yet again the key to everything.