Alexandre Lacazette apologised to Arsenal fans last night for a miss that could have proved costly against Wolves during last night’s crucial victory.
The Gunners moved up to fifth place in the table with two games in hand over West Ham after they clung on to the narrow advantage that was handed to them by Gabriel’s 25th minute poacher’s effort.
Mikel Arteta’s side were forced to dig deep during the final 20 minutes after they were reduced to 10 men following Gabriel Martinelli’s bizarre sending-off.
Some heroic defending and superb goalkeeping contributed to an important win, but a nervous finale could have been avoided had Lacazette buried the chance which fell his way just moments after Martinelli’s dismiassal.
Arsenal will be largely reliant on Lacazette, the club’s new captain, as a consequence of the decision to let Pierre-Emerick Aubamyang join Barcelona last month, but the 30-year-old is clearly struggling for confidence in front of goal.
The 30-year-old has scored just three times all season and squandered a glorious opportunity during Arsenal’s previous game, a goalless draw at home against relegation threatened Burnley.
Lacazette was profligate again at Molineux, failing to even get his shot on target when put clean through one-on-one against Jose Sa, bending his shot at least a yard wide of the Portuguese goalkeeper’s far post.
Fortunately, the former Lyon striker’s miss didn’t prove costly but he admitted on Instagram he should have done better, saying: Disappointed , I know I should score that one, gonna keep working to be back!!
‘But happy for the three pts and proud of everyone to keep the clean sheet
Thanks to the fans for your support.’
‘In the end we handled the pressure, and to play the end of the game like this, it’s a really good win,’ he, meanwhile, told Arsenal’s official website after the game.
‘We deserved it because throughout the game we had chances to score. I had one and should have scored, but in the end the team was strong.
‘Each game is going to be really important if we want to go to the Champions League,” Laca added. “We know in January we were not good enough, so we want to be better to increase our chance for the top four.’
MORE : ‘I have run out of ideas!’ – Mikel Arteta speaks out on Arsenal’s indiscipline after win at Wolves
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