29-year-old Arsenal centre-forward Alexandre Lacazette became the first player in Premier League history to score the very first goal of two separate league seasons last Saturday when he opened the scoring in Arsenal’s 3-0 win at Fulham.
The Frenchman is entertaining his fourth season at Emirates Stadium and although we have seen many bright sparks, Lacazette is yet to replicate a scoring season as he did at Lyon.
2020/21 is Lacazette’s season
It is a big season for Arsenal’s number nine who was signed for, at the time, a club-record fee of £46.5million from Lyon in 2017. That five-year deal which was signed by the French striker expires at the end of next season when Lacazette will be 31 years old.
Lacazette’s best scoring season for Arsenal was in his sophomore year when he scored 19 goals in all competitions in 2018/19 and scoring five goals in our Europa League campaign. The Frenchman is yet to break the 20-goal barrier in north London, could 2020/21 change that?
The former Lyon forward netted 76 Ligue 1 goals in his final three seasons with Les Gones and Mikel Arteta will look to get the best out of Lacazette, who was behind youngster Eddie Nketiah in the pecking order for a portion of last season.
Arteta on Lacazette in the Evening Standard back in July: “Why would I want to lose a player like him? I'm really happy with him. I really like Alex, I said that even before I joined here that he is the type of striker that I really like.
“The way he can link play, he's a massive competitor he hates to lose. He goes for every ball, you see in every challenge how he's ready to go. He works really hard and he's a very intelligent player”.
Will Aubameyang's new deal take pressure off?
Fellow Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finally put pen-to-paper on a new three-year deal earlier this week and has scored over 20 league goals in each of his two full seasons at Arsenal. The pressure for goals, which Aubameyang has especially in high-profile fixtures in recent months, has fallen on the captain’s shoulders.
This is perfect for Lacazette, the pressure off his shoulders to score goals where he can could mean he racks up the goals very quickly. With the addition of Willian and potentially former Lyon teammate Houssem Aouar could be a big boost for Lacazette to latch onto their creativity to score goals, as he did from Willian against Fulham last Saturday.
The added pressure with a new deal on the horizon could be enough for the Frenchman to step up his goal-scoring game and his intention to stay at the club this summer is further indication that Lacazette could hit new levels this season. He is already off to a positive start.