Arsenal vs Brentford: Lacazette can make Premier League history

Alexandre Lacazette is on the hunt to extend his Premier League record run when Arsenal travel to face newly-promoted side Brentford on Friday night to open the Premier League season.

The 30-year-old is aiming to become the first player to score the opening goal of the league season for a record third time. Last season, Lacazette became the first player to score the opening goal of the Premier League season twice, when Arsenal traveled to face Fulham.

His eighth-minute strike gave the Gunners an early lead as they brushed aside the Cottagers to secure three points and a 3-0 win. His streak began back in 2017/18 when he found the back of the net at home to Leicester with a delightfully angled header just two minutes into the clash. Mohamed Elneny provided the assist for the Frenchman on what was his league debut.

Someone whose future has been heavily speculated, Lacazette is coming off a strong campaign, goals-wise, by his standards. As he heads into the final year of his current deal, Arsenal’s top scorer from 2020/21 will have to more than replicate his previous tally.

Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette can secure historic Premier League treble on Friday if he scores the opening goal against Brentford

It remains to be seen whether he will be sold this window as Mikel Arteta eyes new centre-forward reinforcements. Selling him is proving mighty difficult.

His career in north London has been largely up and down, producing moments of brilliance while being desperately frustrating to watch. Last season he was guilty of missing numerous guilt-edged chances, as has become customary. His barren patches in front of goal are far too frequent.

While Lacazette was mainly deployed as Arsenal’s central striker, during the height of the Gunners’ creative issues he was played in the No. 10 role in the Europa league by Arteta. His hold-up play has been one of the reasons why Arsenal fans want him to play ahead of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in leading the line, with the captain too often guilty of going missing in matches.

His stats in his Arsenal career make for no more than decent reading: 170 appearances, 65 goals, and 28 assists since his move from French side Lyon. Not worth the £50m outlay, though. Having scored 17 goals in all competitions last campaign, he bested Aubameyang by two as the Gabon international netted 15 times in what was a largely uninspiring season from the Arsenal skipper.

It might not seem like much but a Premier League record is nothing to screw the nose up at (it helps being given the chance to kick the season off three times). Heading into a campaign with so much uncertainty regarding performances, the squad and his own future, it could provide a nice side note to what is a period where the narratives are wholly negative.

While we are clutching at straws, it does seem appropriate to highlight what could potentially extend a personal milestone.