REVEALED: Why Arsene Wenger Always Substitutes Alexandre Lacazette

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has opened up about why he always seems to substitute former record signing Alexandre Lacazette during games this season.

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The France striker cost the Gunners £52million last summer from Lyon, but he has not enjoyed the best of debut seasons at the Emirates Stadium. He has scored just nine goals in 26 Premier League outings.

He has also been faced with more competition since January, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived from Borussia Dortmund for £60million, trumping the fee paid for him.

Wenger has now suggested that Lacazette’s position and his need to adapt to English football make him more susceptible to substitutions.

“I must say that [Lacazette] plays in a position where you sub more than say a defender, Wenger said.

“You substitute a striker more than you would a defender, because they always have to provoke, to defend, to attack, you have to create holes in the defences. The strikers are more subbed than others.

“Secondly, he was in an adaptation period where I felt that, without any objective measurement, that sometimes he struggled a bit more in the second part of the game, especially in the last 20 minutes, to create the movement he can.

“I put that down to an adaptation period. It was not so much physically – that didn’t drop so much – it just looked like he was a bit less sharp.”

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