Alexandre Lacazette showed just why Arsenal paid a club record fee to bring him to the Emirates on his Premier League debut, but it was another striker, who has been unduly criticised and overlooked, that made the telling impact in a that-was-nuts opening match against Leicester City.
After undergoing solid preparation for the EPL opener, including beating Chelsea in the Community Shield, Arsenal were expected to start the season in a serene manner – score a couple of goals, make that back three look solid and pick up the three points without too much fuss.
Instead, they decided to make it difficult for themselves again, like they so often do, and as a result, we got one of the games of the season in the first match of the new campaign.
Arsenal got off to the best start possible, with Alexandre Lacazette scoring his first goal in an Arsenal shirt in the Premier League.
A crossfield ball found Hector Bellerin on the right, with the full-back playing the ball back to Mohamed Elneny, who floated in a first-time cross. There was still plenty to do, but somehow Lacazette found the pace and the direction to plant a header into the bottom corner, with not even two minutes showing up yet on the clock.
The Emirates Stadium exploded with joy, but they were sitting down, shaking their heads soon after as a quick corner caught Arsenal out and Shinji Okazaki, of all people, rose to head home the equaliser for the 2015-16 champions.
Arsenal's foot-shooting continued when, despite creating numerous chances, they conceded at the other end, with Jamie Vardy showing all his finishing prowess to give Leicester the lead a minute before the half hour.
Danny Welbeck, though, scored a crucial goal just before halftime, taking a pass from the debutant Sead Kolasinac to slot into an empty net.
That goal should have been the one that woke Arsenal up and given them the need to take control and run away with the game, but, instead, it was Vardy who struck again to give Leicester the lead back in this back-and-forth game.
And it looked like that lead would stay until the end, only for the Gunners to fire home two goals in the final minutes, both of them through substitutes.
Watch Arsenal's equalising goal
In the 83rd minute, Aaron Ramsey took a ball from Granit Xhaka and smashed it in from an angle. Two minutes later it was ecstasy for the Emirates faithful, when Olivier Giroud shrugged off some clear-as-day shirt-pulling to power a header home off a corner.
The comeback was complete, but, boy do Arsenal like to make it a lot more difficult than it needs to be.
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