Analysis

Alexandre Lacazette | Season 2018/19

By Utsav Mehta

Posted on May 7, 2019

Unai Emery arrived at the Emirates knowing what needs to be done, but also grudgingly aware of Arsenal’s depleted power work. He certainly did his home work pretty well, signing a forward that have unarguably been our best. From Lyon, Arsenal had already gotten an unfinished product in 2017, Alexandre Lacazette and to complete him Emery brought Aubameyang from Dortmund who had already made a name for himself in Bundesliga.

The two have been a cherry to watch, scoring goals here and there. Auba may be our top scorer of this season but not the top performer. It is the Frenchman, Lacazette who has out done everyone with his subtlety. From winning the hearts of home fans to helping team clinching valuable points, Lacazette’s season has been all about work ethics and selflessness.

Rewind and show me this season again. Yes, I am ready to watch Lacazette’s performance a hundred times purely because of the way this guy has played, his importance has enhanced the team and let us reach where we are right now. He did nothing but dribble, wriggle past the defenders and score or sometimes let his mates do the needful.

The interesting fact of Lacazette’s season has been the timing of his goals and the teams he scored against. With his tally of 18 goals and 10 assists already, Lacazette has scored against big names of Premier League like Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea where his partner Auba did nothing less than awful.

Apart from the domestic league, Lacazette has almost brought Arsenal through the final of Europa League having scored goals in quarter-final against Napoli and two against Valencia in the first leg already.

If we jot down his performances according to League, the French forward has scored 4 goals in 8 Europa League appearances as compared to 13 goals and 8 assists in 34 Premier League appearances.

The Arsenal fans’ have already voted Lacazette as being the best performer of this season not even looking whether Aubameyang wins Golden Boot or not, which I feel is excellent because Auba’s personal goal won’t change the work Laca has done for the club. Not to discredit Auba for his goals but Laca has been better than best.

The exemplary part about Lacazette has been his energy to keep fans on their edge of the seats, always. With the Frenchman in the pitch, the feeling of success never disappears. The forward has brought us from behind ample times, sometimes gifting us a win a few times draw. Not sure if it was his goals against big teams in utterly significant games that applauded him with the award or was it his overall impression on the fans.

The player who came into Arsenal as a prominence of Lyon has beautifully transformed himself to the Premier League’s game-changer.

WATCH: THE BEST OF YOUR PLAYER OF THE SEASON – ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE

Some Key ALEX LACAZETTE Moments to steal from this season!

The Cardiff run-over

The start to any season is important. Lacazette did the same. The Frenchman announced his campaign with a winning strike against Cardiff in the dying minutes of the game which otherwise would have ended a 2-2 draw.

Match-Winning strike against Chelsea

For me personally, the stand out goal of this season has been Laca’s acute strike through Chelsea’s mean defence. How did he do it? Like literally, he had no space to score with Chelsea’s defence not giving any freedom to shoot, yet, Laca somehow managed to sneak past Alonso and smash the ball into net.

The Liverpool Equaliser

Many a times, the goals that Lacazette had scored resulted in victory for Arsenal. His goal against Liverpool, however, gave us a draw but it was no less than 3 goals alone. The way he scored past Alisson Becker and Van Dijk after running into the left post, bluffing Becker, only to score the ball in opposite post.

The strong shoot with his weaker foot

The North London derby has always been a treat to watch with fans battling on the stands when their players fight on the pitch. In a game that no Gunner would want to lose, Lacazette made sure that he had his fans cheering for him after scoring a brilliant left-footed bottom corner shoot past Hugo Lloris and following that with a crowd-thumping slide.

Free-kick against Napoli

Emery’s end to an already amazing campaign was made sweeter by Lacazette, with his delectable free-kick against Naples which ensured a semi-final spot for Arsenal. He stepped-up, posed and there he scored to cruise Arsenal into semi-finals.

The goal was utterly significant because of the difficulty a team like Napoli possesses in defence. If it was not for his goal, maybe Napoli would have got one and also gone through. Nevertheless, Lacazette it was who never let it happen.

Apart from his goals, he also assisted twice against Manchester United in two consecutive outings. The exemplary part about Lacazette has been his energy to keep fans on their edge of the seats, always. With the Frenchman in the pitch, the feeling of success never disappears. The forward has brought us from behind ample times, sometimes gifting us a win a few times draw. Not sure if it was his goals against big teams in utterly significant games that applauded him with the award or was it his overall impression on the fans.

The player who came into Arsenal as a prominence of Lyon has beautifully transformed himself to the Premier League’s game-changer.