Alexandre Lacazette claimed the return of Arsenal’s fans helped him bring an end to his recent struggles in front of goal on Thursday.
The France forward had gone eight matches for the Gunners without scoring before his spectacular long-range strike in their 4-1 win over Rapid Vienna in Europa League Group B.
The match was the first European fixture in England to have supporters inside the ground since March, with 2,000 present at Emirates Stadium.
And Lacazette, 29, felt the support he received during the game helped him score his first goal since the end of September, when he netted in a 3-1 loss to Liverpool.
He told BT Sport: “It was amazing. We were so happy to see the fans today, and it really helped us during the game.
“Even in bad moments they pushed us to play good. Obviously we played well, it was good football.
“It was really good, really nice when fans are behind us. It was not easy for me this last couple of weeks but to see the fans behind me, I really enjoyed it so thanks to them.”
Lacazette became only the eighth player to score 20 goals in the Europa League since 2009-10 with his opening strike, which was just his third from outside the box in the competition.
Pablo Mari headed in the second from a corner for Arsenal before Eddie Nketiah finished off a stylish team goal a minute before half-time.
5 – Arsenal have won each of their first five matches to a season in major European competition (excluding qualifiers) for only the second time, having last done so in the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League, reaching the final that season. Harbinger. #UEL pic.twitter.com/iaac5YzkSI
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 3, 2020
Arsenal, who had already qualified for the competition’s last 32 and will go through as Group B winners, added a fourth through Emile Smith Rowe to stifle any hopes of a comeback.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles claimed the presence of Arsenal’s “12th man” helped generate a feelgood factor throughout the game.
“We’ve waited a long time. It’s a great feeling to have them back,” said Maitland-Niles.
“It was only a few thousand tonight, but we hope more will come eventually. It’s just great to have that sound back and have our 12th man back.
“We said before the game we would just have fun and enjoy the game, enjoy the moment and have a good feel for it and we did that and executed it brilliantly.”
On the return of their supporters, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta added: “We are delighted to have fans back, they make a huge difference.
“We had 2,000 but they were loud and they were supportive to the team so thanks to them for coming and making the effort.”
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