Arsenal striker Lacazette not counting on title miracle

Alexandre Lacazette says the Premier League title was not a primary target for Arsenal and that it would take a “miracle” to stop Manchester City becoming champions at this stage.

France striker Lacazette arrived as a club-record £52million signing from Lyon during the close season and has scored eight goals in 16 Premier League appearances to date.

Nevertheless, the Gunners lie sixth in the table heading into Wednesday’s London derby at West Ham, 17 points behind Pep Guardiola’s runaway leaders.

Last season was the first time during Arsene Wenger’s 21-year tenure that Arsenal missed out on qualification for the Champions League and, for Lacazette and his colleagues, returning the club to Europe’s top table is the priority.

“It would be really complicated to win [the Premier League] at this point,” Lacazette said, as quoted by The Mirror.

“We would really need a miracle. City would need to lose a lot of their games and we know their record.

“But the goal in coming here was always to qualify for the Champions League and if we could get the title, fantastic.”

Oooooh pic.twitter.com/iIvKQ4hSaV

— Alexandre Lacazette (@LacazetteAlex) November 30, 2017

Lacazette revealed the chance to work with Wenger was a major factor in persuading him to come to Arsenal, along with the influence of one of his more unheralded compatriots in the squad.

“It was really the meeting with the coach that made me want to come here, it was something I had thought about since I was little,” he added.

“I had spoken about it a lot for many years with Francis Coquelin but it was really all about that meeting with the coach.”