Arsenal Vs Burnley: Can Alexandre Lacazette break his duck?

Alexandre Lacazette last scored away from home in the Premier League on February 9th, 2019. Can the Arsenal striker break his duck against Burnley on Sunday?

Last year, Alexandre Lacazette was named Arsenal’s Player of the Season, scored 13 Premier League goals and added another eight assists, and was a central piece to the team’s somewhat limited success. The Frenchman has not enjoyed the same calibre of campaign this time around.

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Just five league goals all season, a month missed due to a lingering ankle problem, and a growing collection of supporters questioning his role in the starting XI. Lacazette has endured a rather unruly and unkind fall from grace. And at the heart of it is his struggles to score prolifically and consistently away from home.

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Lacazette has not scored a league goal in almost two months. His last striker came on December 5th. Perhaps pertinently, he has not scored away from home in the Premier League since February 9th, 2019, in a 2-1 win over Huddersfield Town. All in all, Lacazette has scored 32 goals in 56 games at the Emirates. It is a very impressive rate. Away from home, however, he has only 10 goals in 50 appearances. His shot total has also dropped significantly away from, 2.8 per game to 1.5 per game.

Despite this recent run of poor scoring form, especially on his travels, Lacazette’s performances have still been influential, if not replicating that of his Player of Season level last year. He provided the assist for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s strike in a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace, has still excelled with his back to the goal, and helps lead the high press superbly. And his head coach is not entirely concerned by Lacazette’s barren scoring run:

"“It’s a concern for me, if he’s concerned about it. In relation to his performances, I’m really happy. He’s setting up goals for the rest, he’s creating chances for the rest of his teammates, his work out of possession has been phenomenal.”"

Nevertheless, while it is fair to argue for the many other facets that Lacazette provides as the central striker in a team that has wingers running beyond and possession-based system that relies upon the Frenchman to link-up play as the focal point of the attack, eventually, the goals must come. He is a striker, after all.

And until he notches that elusive goal, it will only get more difficult, as Arteta conceded when asked about how he and Arsenal can help their star centre-forward:

"“You can help him by talking to him and giving him confidence, but that ball has to end up in the net. I think that’s the best medicine for strikers. What we have to try to do is put Laca in positions where he can have as many opportunities to do that as possible during a game.”"

Ultimately, Lacazette needs to score. It is quite evident when watching him play that he is desperate for it. He snatches at shots, wastes opportunities, begins to panic in the final third, getting ahead of himself as openings appear before him.

So when Arsenal travel to Burnley on Sunday afternoon, what better place for Lacazette to break his duck? God knows he, and the team, needs it.