Andy Cole says Arsenal boss disrespected Alexandre Lacazette on Saturday

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Former Premier League striker Andy Cole has told TalkSport that Mikel Arteta disrespected Alexandre Lacazette at the weekend by preferring Willian in the attack.

The Arsenal boss chose the Brazilian at the expense of the in-form talisman as the Gunners lost 1-0 to Manchester City.

It was a result that leaves Arsenal in fifth place with the defeat their second of the campaign after a previous defeat to Liverpool.

Lacazette has been in decent form for the Gunners during 2020/21 scoring three goals in four outings.

Cole began his career at Arsenal but made just one first-team appearance before moving to Bristol City in 1992.

He claims that Arteta made the wrong call to go with Willian over Lacazette on Saturday.

Cole told TalkSport: “I think he is being disrespectful to Lacazette. Willian is not a centre-forward.

“If you’ve got a centre-forward on the bench who is your top goalscorer, to turn around and say, ‘Look I’m going to play Willian as the centre-forward. You sit on the bench and watch him play centre-forward’, I think that is very disrespectful.”

Lacazette was linked with a move away from the Gunners in the summer but has proven his worth so far this season.

With that in mind, it perhaps was a surprise to see Arteta stick the Frenchman on the bench at the expense of Willian at the weekend.

Prolific

The £182,000-a-week player is currently the club’s top scorer and he’s looked decent when called upon.

Lacazette arrived at Arsenal in 2017 from Lyon. In 132 games for the Gunner, he’s netted 51 times and registered 25 assists.

Saturday will have hurt Lacazette and he will surely hope that Arteta will give him a run of games in the near future.

When he gets the chance to impress, all he can do it continue scoring goals. If he does that he will quickly become undroppable.