Lacazette was benched against Man City, but returns to face Tottenham (Picture: Getty)

Arsene Wenger has backed Alexandre Lacazette to give a complete performance after returning Arsenal’s record signing to the starting XI for the north London derby.

The £50m summer signing from Lyon was surprisingly left out of the starting line-up that took on Manchester City in the final match before the international break.

But the French striker was introduced in the second half with Arsenal already two goals behind, but made an almost instant impact by scoring within minutes of being introduced – though the Gunners ultimately lost 3-1.

And Wenger has now decided to back Lacazette in Saturday’s massive game against Tottenham and believes he is well suited to the task.

Wenger has named something close to his strongest possible starting XI (Picture: Getty)

‘He plays his game, I think he’s a player who connects well with others,’ Wenger told Sky Sports ahead of the match.

‘He’s not only a goal getter, you want him to participate in the build-up and be on the end of things.’

Lacazette was in fine form for France in midweek, scoring twice (Picture: Getty)

Shkodran Mustafi has overcome injury to return to the starting XI, while Danny Welbeck is fit and available and on the bench, allowing Wenger to play all his players in their preferred positions.

He continued: ‘Yes, Welbeck is back, Giroud is injured, cannot use him, but Mustafi is back as well.

‘Overall at least everyone plays in his position. In big games you want everybody playing in the match to be used to playing and regular playing too.’