An altogether surprising statistic, surrounding Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette’s production in front of goal, has come to the fore online on Monday.
Laca targeted
French hitman Lacazette has long represented something of a divisive figure in North London.
Whilst many of a Gunners persuasion continue to defend the 30-year-old’s record, others argue that ‘Laca’ has simply never reached the heights expected of him since arriving from Lyon in the summer of 2017.
To this point, the 16-time capped international has managed exactly a half-century of goals in 128 Premier League appearances – good enough for a goal in or around every 2.5 games.
Expanding the scope to all competitions, and Lacazette has found the back of the net on a grand total of 65 occasions in Arsenal colours.
So, why, time and time again, has the Frenchman been singled out as simply ‘not good enough’ to the lead the line at the Emirates?
His hold-up, and in turn link-up play is actually of a solid standard, with Lacazette having long been commended for his work-rate, too.
Instead, the more demanding sections of the Arsenal faithful have insisted on highlighting their attacker’s goalscoring return, evidently considered as sub-par.
Kane & more outdone
As outlined above, though, upon delving into the statistics behind Lacazette’s finishing, over the course of the last two seasons combined, the figures stand very much in the Lyon native’s favour.
As revealed by WhoScored, Laca, remarkably, has proven the most clinical striker in the Premier League since 2019. Yes, that’s more clinical than Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, Mohamed Salah and teammate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang:
So, what does this information tell us?
Of course, it does not absolve Lacazette of all blame when it comes to his frankly average goalscoring return in England.
What it does prove, though, is that if he is provided with consistent opportunities to find the net, the 30-year-old will likely do so at an elite clip. The more pressing issue, as has been the case at the Emirates for some time now, is the lack of creative influence elsewhere in Mikel Arteta’s ranks