Arsenal 3 Western Sydney Wanderers 1: Alexandre Lacazette quiet in first start as Gunners cruise to victory

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Olivier Giroud scored as Arsenal cruised to a 3-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday, though Alexandre Lacazette was quiet in his first start.

Giroud opened the scoring as the Gunners scored three times in 11 minutes before half-time. Steven Lustica added a consolation for the Wanderers after the break.

Lacazette could, and perhaps should, have got Arsenal off to the perfect start. The club-record signing picked up the ball just inside the penalty area and turned Joshua Risdon with ease, but goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic easily parried a weak shot.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alex Iwobi were involved heavily early on and, soon after, the latter found Lacazette with a lofted cross towards the back post but the Frenchman's first touch was poor and the chance went begging.

With WSW huffing and puffing, and making no real inroads, Arsenal continued to step up their efforts and soon made the breakthrough when Giroud tucked home from close range after fine work from Nacho Monreal to cut the ball back.

Minutes later and it was 2-0 and Monreal had his second assist, sending the ball long for Aaron Ramsey to run onto and lob the goalkeeper from 18 yards.

It was 3-0 before half-time when Mohamed Elneny's tame effort from the edge of the area benefited from a huge deflection to roll in.

Getty Images

Elneny was inches away from a second, and Arsenal's fourth, minutes after the restart but his dipping, bending shot from distance clipped the underside of the crossbar and bounced away.

Wanderers were then gifted a goal after David Ospina conceded a back pass. Lustica hammered home from close range at the second attempt.

Lacazette, along with seven others, were withdrawn by Arsene Wenger after 66 minutes, the club-record signing enduring a quiet game after a lively start.

Mesut Ozil, one of the late substitutes, went close to adding a fourth with a free kick from distance but was denied by the post.

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