Saturday's north London derby pitches two strikers against each other aiming to make their mark after differing starts to the campaign.
Harry Kane’s habitual August drought acted as a coiled spring, firing him into a goal-laden September and beyond. By contrast, Alexandre Lacazette has had something of a drip-fed introduction into English football, with Arsene Wenger seemingly reluctant to throw his £52.7million club record signing in against the top sides, however much he denied the suggestion on Thursday.
Wenger kept Lacazette out of the starting line-up for Arsenal’s two biggest games of the season to date: at Liverpool in August and then against Manchester City just before the latest international break.
On both occasions, the decision was greeted with fury by Gunners fans incandescent that Wenger would agree such a significant financial outlay on a player he would not start against the best Premier League teams.
Lacazette will surely start on Saturday. Olivier Giroud’s thigh injury robs Wenger of one alternative and, in any case, the sight of Lacazette, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in full flight was, even accounting for the flawed opposition that day against Everton, the most impressive Arsenal have been in an attacking sense all season.
The 26-year-old proved himself in rude health with two goals for France in Tuesday’s friendly against Germany, a match Lacazette described as his best international appearance to date.
Kane, by contrast, was ruled out of England’s friendly double-header against Germany and Brazil with a knee problem. Spurs did their best to avert any cynicism that Kane — or Dele Alli and Harry Winks for that matter — sidestepped England duty to focus on their clubs, maintaining that the trio underwent rehabilitation for 10 days prior to resuming full training on Thursday.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino cast doubt on their availability but it would be a huge surprise if Kane did not start. The 24-year-old has six goals in five games against Arsenal and could become the first player to score in six consecutive north London derbies.
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Sky Sports last night trailed part of an interview with Thierry Henry in which Kane discussed how he would like to add assists to his game but that would require him to compromise the shoot-on-sight policy that has helped transform him into one of the most prolific strikers in the world.
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Kane has scored eight League goals to Lacazette’s six — from 120 minutes more on the pitch — but Lacazette’s conversion rate (27 per cent) is almost twice as good as Tottenham’s No10 (14 per cent).Lacazette demonstrated that clinical touch within nine minutes of coming on at City, converting his first major opportunity.
If Lacazette can prove as deadly over a longer period, he may start to give Kane a run for his money. Tomorrow is a chance to see who has the edge.