Lacazette scores on his debut as Arsenal win in Sydney

Sydney 0 Arsenal 2

Record Arsenal signing Alexandre Lacazette scored on his debut for the Gunners as they beat Sydney FC 2-0 on their pre-season tour of Australia.

The £53m summer signing came on in the 68th minute of the match and scored the second goal after 83 minutes. Slotting home a cross from Alex Iwobi.

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It was a good performance from the Gunners, modelling their new dark third kit, in front of a crowd of 80,000. They would have scored far more goals had it not been for a fine display from Sydney keeper Andrew Redmayne, an Arsenal fan who once had a trial at the Emirates.

But it was Lacazette who was centre of attention, at least for the 22 minutes he was on the field.

"The record signing played off Giroud as a second striker, dropping deep to link up play", reports Jonathan Howcroft of The Guardian. "If you thought that might diminish his impact in front of goal he provided a firm riposte after just 15 minutes in the fray, ghosting into the box to sidefoot home a smart cross from the right."

Lacazette has been given the number nine jersey at the Emirates "and perhaps gave a glimpse of things to come with a predatory finish", says Mike Keegan of Mail Online.

"The Gunners had wasted a staggering number of chances to double their lead after Per Mertesacker's early opener. But Lacazette made no mistake and Arsene Wenger will have noted his impact.

"Sead Kolasinac made his debut and looked solid, although he will face substantially bigger tests in the months ahead than that offered here by Australia’s champions," says Keegan.

There were other positives for the Gunners, reports the Daily Telegraph. The match was "a decent sharpener for the Arsenal squad on their return to footballing matters. No obvious injuries, some promising youth cameos and that third kit is quite nice too."