Arsenal’s sixth consecutive win in the Premier League may have closed the gap on the top three to just two points but Alex Lacazette still thinks it’s early to talk about a return to the Champions League positions.
The Frenchman has been in sparkling form in recent weeks and helped himself to a brace as the Gunners battered Fulham 5-1 at Craven Cottage; a result that in some quarters even sparked talk of a title challenge.
While the performance suggests Unai Emery’s plan is coming together, the striker maintains he and his team-mates just need to keep their heads down.
“The team spirit is good, of course when you win it is better,” he said on Sunday.
“We are working well and we want to continue like this.
“To talk about the top four is early I think, we have to keep quiet and work like we did before and the season is going well. Just work as we did and we will see at the end of the season”
If the Gunners are to enjoy a successful season, the goals of Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be vital. Each player took their tally for the campaign to six in all competitions with the Gabon international helping himself to a brace of his own against the Cottagers. In the process, the 29-year-old took his Arsenal tally to 16 goals in 23 games since moving to the Emirates in January.
Despite Aubameyang’s enviable record, Lacazette played down comparisons with Thierry Henry, a predecessor in the number 14 shirt.
“It is hard to compare with Thierry because he came was younger and Auba is at the top of his career,” he said. “But I hope Auba scores as many goals to help us win something.
He added: “It is good [our relationship], he is like my brother. We talk every day and we love working together.
“Today in front of the goal we scored two goals each, which is good.”
Two great players, lots of rapport, scoring lots of goals, could become legends if they keep going.
I love it when a plan comes together
Interested to see if we stick with the 4 4 2
Bit of a blast from the past. Worked rather well.
Worked well enough for Monaco and Athletico Madrid in recent seasons
I think it will work if Lacazette plays up top. Laca pre often comes deep and presses opposition midfielders. This ensures that our mids aren’t overloaded.
We had Ramsey and Auba up top at the end of the game on Sunday. That seemed to work pretty well too.
Also Welbeck is pretty good at harassing the opposition.
He is a marvel of a player and a great character. He can play, linkup, dribble and burry them at will. I also love his celebration, classy and elegant ( as he is). More of that please !
I was expecting him to say it’s”it’s too early to say about the title”
Looking at the table the title is possible but mentioning it wouldn’t do anyone any favours
The rapport is what I love! It is very different to having Sanchez shouting at everyone
Yep that’s exactly what was needed. Sanchez was bad vibes all round by the end.
Yep…. That spoilt brat
Welcome to Arsenal the Home of tasty football….
Still early days in the league. There will be ups and downs. But I felt start of season Emery needed to right the team ASAP and he had till game 7 to get close to top of table otherwise we would have issues. This particularly with the sort of competition in the league these days. We are in game 8 and things are starting to click for the team. There is a level of understanding between players that is only starting to take off now as demonstrated in the third team goal. This only comes with the team understanding the… Read more »
Yes we all know by now that you predicted 7 games for him to get it right. Let’s move on.
I predicted it would take 8 games, but I didn’t tell anyone. So I was even more right, though no one knows.
Fair play A Different Georolge. You’re the 2nd smartest poster on the site so!
What’s even more amazing is that santori apparently predicted we would be near the top after 7 games despite being the same man who told everyone over & over how bad our summer signings were. Some man.
ironically both of these comments have 7 upvotes
Holy Moly, that crystal ball of yours must be something. You don’t want to be telling all of this to this mob, you know.
me too, but being humble about the top four suits us much better than not being humble at all by “brushing off title talk”. the reality is that 4th place would be an important step forwards, one that would surprise me positively. before the season and even more so after two games, i considered 6th the most probable outcome, and i guess many others did, too.
I want the title. We can do it the way Leicester did it. Micki needs to turn into Marhez for that to happen.
I give you credit, you’re very optimistic, the year that Leicester won the top 4 was unstable man u, city, Chelsea, Liverpool all going through transition periods, only Arsenal who got hit with injury ( as always), and Tottenham who could have won but choke towards the end was stable enough to win, the only team that was consistently putting in performance was Leicester that’s why they won, but look now we have Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Tottenham, even Man u ( because you would be a fool to count them out with all the talent they have) is gunning for… Read more »
We choked just as much as the spuds unfortunately
I also don’t wanna talk about the top 4. I’d rather speak about the title! ? It’s early and we haven’t done it against the big guns yet (although against Chelsea for 20/25 minutes we kinda did) but in 3 out of the last 4 seasons the champion hasn’t been the big favorite at the start of the season. Torreira has looked exactly the player I was hoping to get and our defense in general seem to improve from game to game. Soon Koscielny will be back too, Holding is playing really, really well at the moment, Sokratis looks stronger… Read more »
May sound a bit greedy but I wish this break was not happening. We have alot of momentum at this time, and it would be great to see how we would kick on against Leicester, Liverpool, and etc… This crew is playing with confidence, (much of which seemed to be lacking last year), and I believe they took the best part of the Chelsea game with them. Although it was early in the season, no one has done to Chelsea want we did to them for that 20/25 minutes. Chelsea was “swallowing the bit”, and with a little bit more… Read more »
I like the way you think
It seems top class number nines are like buses… you wait 5 years for one, and then two come along in the space of 6 months. Lacazette looks different class, I feared we’d signed a player who wasn’t going to give us much more than Giroud last season, he looked lightweight and far too easily pushed around, but now he looks powerful and his all round game is really very good, and his finishing ability was never really in doubt. There might be more functional forward lines in this league, but no other club has two No9s as lethal as… Read more »
Lacazette and Aubameyang do look good.
Spot on, Bro. Lacayang!
Clinical is what we are.
We need to be unforgiving in front of goal. Start of season we were a bit tentative and wasteful.
But the strikers have really stepped up with some belief and we are reaping benefits for the back as well bc of the attacking intent.
All the same, the MOST impressive thing yesterday IMO was our resilience through the first half to graft and stick with it until such time teams wear down in the second half and we can exploit space better.
Younger players are responding BECAUSE they are also not that young anymore.
Rob Holding, Bellerin, Iwobi are all 23 yrs +.
This has always been the age that players tend to mature.
Walcott and Ramsey came good about the same age.
Walcott came good?
Theo Walcott scored a 108 goals in 397 appearances for arsenal. While he wasn’t the next Henry as everyone was hoping, in his own right he was a good player and served us very well. Not exceptional but good. I think that earns him a little bit of respect.
Walcott never came good IMO
PAssing numbers were worse because we were attempting things and not being passive.
Particularly Iwobi who provides the element of engagement which we have been missing.
Looking at AUB and Laca together, Sanchez really was a backwards weirdo with his dogs lol.
I still have utmost respect for Atom and Humber… unfortunately I can’t say the same about Sanchez
Let’s be fair. For 3 years he was one of the best players in the Premier League with plenty of goals and assists. The last season he switched off and decided he was bigger than the club so frankly pleased he left and even better got Mkhitaryan in exchange which has worked out brilliantly
Middle of last week some lady Man Ure supporter tweeted “Sanchez is Arsenal’s revenge for Silvestre. The bastards must have been planning this for years!”
Hahahaha
Sanchez did record a lot of goals and assists for us. Why insult him? Let’s all thank him for leaving us when he was starting to play bad. Saved us a lot of money and got us a very talented player in Mkhi in return. This also reminded us that no player is bigger than the club.
Dare to dream? 🙂
I’m really encouraged by the progress made by the team under the new manager but for one of our senior players to publicly say “it’s too early to talk about the top 4” is just plain ridiculous. That’s the sort of talk a team like Arsenal should have about winning the League!! Getting back into the Champions League is and should be the minimum requirement!!
I would rather they underpromise and overdeliver than the other way around. This is a tricky season and the only way to get it right is to consistently work from start to finish.
You obviously have never paid for a ticket at the Emirates. Top prices demand top performances and at least Champions League football. We are not Brighton, West Ham or even Everton. We have a history that demands the best. Can you imagine a Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea or City player saying “we are not talking about the top 4?!?!?
It just horribly illustrates where we are right now. I’m not being negative, just a realist.
“It just horribly illustrates where we are right now.”
Exactly, where we are now. Hopefully there are early signs that it will improve in the not too distant future, though. I too would rather we overdeliver and not talk ourselves up too much. It used to annoy me a lot when we did before.
I’ve paid for many tickets but I also have an issue with your post.
Firstly, why does it matter what other clubs may or may not say in your imagination…?
Secondly, I think you’ve angrily misunderstood what Lacazette is trying to convey here. I believe that the team are taking each match as it comes and aiming to do their best from game-to-game. For a club who finished 6th last season, I think it’s the right decision to temper expectations. Just chill out.
I’m incredibly chilled ?
The thing that struck me yesterday was how good the team spirit seemed to be amongst the players. I hope that was the real start of the Unai Emery era and hope there is more to come from the side. Shame about the international break but looking at the remaining fixtures in October we can hopefully gain some real momentum and confidence heading into the Liverpool fixture in November. If we have won 13 games in a row by then, then maybe Liverpool will feel a bit apprehensive about their visit to the Emirates next month.
It’s going to be a blast at the Emirates come November against Liverpool– heavy metal against Unaiball.
442 forever
I think it’s exactly the time to be talking about the top four. 🙂
please give me Liverpool. Can’t wait to unleash my laca- auba on them. AM SO HAPPY BEING A GUNNER.
Everyone talks about starting with them both but finishing the game with them both allows Emery to make the tactical assessment and changed necessary to make it work.
This is a manager who can read the game very quickly and make competent adjustments to suit the players
Basically we could start with a lone striker in a 4231 the move into a 442
Arsenal Will Lift Trophy This Year It Belong To Us We Nigeria Die Heart Gunner Get Hope And Beleive.
If we don’t lose against the top teams, we have a chance.
It feels great to be a gooner again. I have no expectations just yet regarding league table and trophies, I’m just enjoying the improvement and new lease of life. Long may it continue.
I’ve read in dismay some fans berating Lacazette for aiming for the top four rather than the title. In my opinion, top four is inclusive of the title, so the French striker could very well be referring to to spot too, albeit a bit cautiously.