The club-record summer signing came off in the 83rd minute and he was replaced by Olivier Giroud.
And explaining his decision to bring him off, Wenger said: “I took him off because he was tired.
“He had an opportunity to score a hat-trick but I gave him the penalty as well.
“So overall, what you want is to win the game and not to take any gambles because if they come back to 2-1 it can be nervy in the end.
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Alexandre Lacazette was replaced by Olivier Giroud towards the end of the game
I took him off because he was tired. He had an opportunity to score a hat-trick
Arsene Wenger
“So when the guy is a bit tired and when you have Giroud on the bench, you know you might have to defend on set pieces or Giroud can score the third goal.”
Wenger also hinted Lacazette is likely to continue to be the designated penalty taker after the Frenchman converted his spot kick.
He added: “Yes, until now I gave them to him.
“I observed him a little bit because we work well on penalties in training and I think he took his penalty well tonight.”
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Arsene Wenger says he brought off Alexandre Lacazette because he was tired
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Wenger, meanwhile, insists he won’t play a weakened side against BATE Borisov in the Europa League on Thursday (6pm).
He added: “When you look at the schedule over the weekend I think there was some room for us to be scheduled differently, but we have to accept it and we want to go to Borisov with a good team.
“I will go with a team of senior players and certainly with a young bench.”
