The Knee Jerk – Gameweek 1 – Friday

It’s almost like turn-based Fantasy Football.

Alexandre Lacazette’s 17.8% ownership will be more than happy with the night’s work from the Frenchman.

His goal and spritely performance was enough to provide comfort and early re-assurance for those who snubbed one or more of Romelu Lukaku, Harry Kane or Gabriel Jesus.

Lacazette scored one, he perhaps could and should have got more. He certainly did enough to indicate that he can justify the 10.5 Fantasy Premier League fee.

His non-owners must acknowledge that Lacazette showed promise, but they will also know that there are more turns to play out.

Jesus will go on Saturday, backed by a 13.6% ownership, with 30.7% of those handing him the captaincy for a trip to Brighton.

Then it will be Kane and Lukaku on Sunday, with the 49% owned Manchester United striker backed by over a million armbands.

Meanwhile, up on Tyneside, Kane will be part of 37.9% of squads and with 55% of his owners trusting him as their skipper.

Those captaincy percentages are telling.

For while Lacazette’s promising performance might already cause some to consider the saving from Lukaku or Kane, it’s significant that the pair are both backed by more than half of their Gameweek 1 owners with the armband.

Lacazette earned the faith of just 29.1% of his managers, with the majority doubtless turning to one of the two big-hitters.

And therein lies the difference.

The Arsenal striker was impressive, but there is plenty of ground to make up before we consider him at the same level as Kane and Lukaku as a captain.

For starters, we will want to assess the impact Olivier Giroud’s dramatic winner.

Once again he sprung from the Arsenal bench to send Arsene Wenger a message. Once again, as we saw with Alexis Sanchez last season, we will wonder if Giroud will eventually gain starts as the central striker, pushing Lacezette into a support role.

To an extent, we have the same worry with Jesus. Sergio Aguero’s presence could eventually shift the Brazilian to a flank or behind the lone striker at times.

How that will impact either striker is unknown. What we do know is that this is not a concern with Lukaku or Kane.

So while Lacazette convinced and demonstrated that he will have a say in our seasons, early talk of Arsenal’s new signing being elevated to their level seems premature.

He has the pair on their toes, and they will need to take their turn to shine.