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Arteta on getting the best out of Lacazette

Alex Lacazette

Mikel Arteta needs Alex Lacazette at his best in the coming weeks if we are to rise up the table.

So what does the French forward need to do to rediscover the finest form - and how can our head coach help him?

"Alex is a player who I always liked because he’s a type of striker who can do a bit of everything," Arteta said. "He’s very talented at combining and linking with other [players]. 

"His work-rate and the way he competes for every ball, he’s ready to find the striker and then he has this ability to put the ball in the back of the net every time he is in front of goal.

"It has been a difficult season for him, not just for him but for other players too, but we’ve been trying to manage that. He’s had a lot of continuity with me but he had a spell where he was finding it difficult to score goals.

"But in the last few weeks he’s looked much better and has been more of a threat. I want to give him confidence, game time and he came on Man City in a really difficult scenario but showed a lot of willingness to help his team-mates and help the team.

"Everybody needs confidence, a striker more than any other player on the pitch because confidence is related to the amount of goals per minute they score. They can do everything very good but at the end of the day they are getting judged for the amount of goals they are scoring. 

"But it’s the same for everybody. But how do you gain confidence from the manager? It’s the way you train, translating into the way you play or if you don’t play then you have the excuse that you don’t have the confidence. It’s always like this."

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