Press conference

Arteta on Lacazette's form and future plans

The current form of Alexandre Lacazette was discussed in Thursday's press conference - as was the future of our France international.

The 29-year-old striker has scored 13 times so far this season, sitting just six goals shy of his best season in an Arsenal shirt. As a result, boss Mikel Arteta believes Laca is in some of the best form of his career.

But with speculation from the media over his future, what did our manager have to say about Lacazette's situation?

"I think he's been really good," Arteta admitted. "I think he's been in really good form for months now. I think he's sustaining that level.

"He's scoring goals and he's providing the team with something different as well. His work rate has been phenomenal and it's what we want. We need those types of players hitting the best level and we want to have the chance to do that.

"Over the course of the season we have been missing goals, we've been missing that creativity in the final third and we need those players to step in and make that difference for the team.

"I am always happy when people talk about our players and speculate on that. It means they are doing well and getting attention from other clubs.

"The situation with Laca will get addressed in the summer. I will speak to him and just propose a future that we want and that's it. Now I just want players focused and only focused on performing and getting the best out of them for the team.

"At the end of the day, everything is related to where we are, how much we win and where we are playing next season. There are no exceptions and we all need to be clear with that and the context that we have around our industry."