Alexandre Lacazette’s final Premier League campaign with Arsenal spanned 30 appearances. And in that time, he scored as many goals as Gabriel Jesus got in one afternoon. If that suggests the £45million Brazilian is the immediate upgrade Arsenal required in attack, his four-goal haul against Watford may have been a little deceptive. Take that out and he, like Lacazette, struck just four times in the top flight last season. Which, as a lack of goals from their specialist strikers was one of the factors that cost Arsenal Champions League football, may be inauspicious.
If the danger might be that Lacazette’s successor is too much of a like-for-like replacement, adding much-needed energy in the final third but not greater productivity, it could point to a theme in Arteta’s Arsenal. Their three top scorers in the Premier League last season were Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard and maybe the striker will remain the foil, charged with making the attacking midfielders – a sizeable contingent since bolstered by Fabio Vieira’s arrival – the finishers. Jesus could seem well qualified: no one got more assists in Manchester City’s Premier League-winning campaign than him.
