Coquelin backs ´ice cold´ Lacazette to make the difference at Arsenal

Francis Coquelin believes “ice cold” Alexandre Lacazette can make the difference for Arsenal this season and turn them back into Premier League title challengers.

Lacazette completed his move from Lyon earlier this month for a club-record fee, believed to be in the region of €60million.

The 26-year-old scored 129 goals in 275 appearances for Lyon after breaking into the first team in 2010, and he quickly opened his Gunners account in Thursday’s 2-0 friendly win over Sydney FC.

Lacazette only needed 15 minutes to get off the mark and Coquelin is confident plenty more will follow once the Premier League season gets underway on August 11 against Leicester City.

“When you are a goalscorer, you are a goalscorer,” said the midfielder. “Even at 17, he was always the same. In front of goal he’s always ice cold, he always scores a lot of goals.

“When we played with the national team, he finished top scorer when we played the Under-20 World Cup. His record for Lyon is incredible. He’s scored so many goals over there.

#ArsenalinShanghai pic.twitter.com/9AUEKpsQlL

— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) July 17, 2017

“He’s shown that in front of goal he doesn’t mess around and that’s what we need.

“He scored 37 goals last season in 45 games, so I don’t know why he cannot score for Arsenal. It is just whether he is going to put them away and I’m sure he will.”

Coquelin added: “He will probably get even more chances than he did at Lyon and it is down to him to score them but I’m pretty sure he has come here with his confidence high.

“In front of goal, he’s someone who likes to score goals. He doesn’t need many chances to put them away. I hope we will see that this season.

“I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a goalscorer. He even showed it in our first game in pre-season. 

“He only played 25 minutes, he needed only one chance to put it in. That’s what we need and hopefully he can do that on many more occasions to come.”