Lacazette equals Premier League goal record two minutes into debut

Dom Farrell

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Lacazette equals Premier League goal record two minutes into debut image

Alexandre Lacazette scored the joint-fastest goal on the opening day of a Premier League season by heading home after 94 seconds of Arsenal's game against Leicester City.

The Gunners' record signing brought Emirates Stadium to its feet by steering Mohamed Elneny's cross past Kasper Schmeichel.

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It brings him level with former Arsenal favourite Kevin Campbell, who breached Manchester City swiftly at Highbury in 1994, while Colombia great Faustino Asprilla also punished Sheffield Wednesday in the second minute of the 1997-98 campaign while at Newcastle United.

The goal also continued Lacazette's phenomenal record in the first game of top-flight seasons over recent years - one that Arsenal needed to add to after Leicester forwards Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy turned the game on its head.

Danny Welbeck brought the Gunners level just before half-time and, though Vardy put Leicester back into the lead, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud came off the bench to secure a thrilling 4-3 victory.

Lacazette now has seven in five on the opening day – a run that began with a brace in Lyon's 4-0 win over Nice in 2013.

The France striker netted as Rennes were beaten 2-0 a year later and, although Lorient shackled him in 2015, the 26-year-old punished Nancy with a hat-trick last term.

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Lacazette also became the seventh Arsenal player to score on his first Premier League appearance.

Campbell and Steve Bould were on target when George Graham's side suffered a 4-2 home defeat to Norwich, an inauspicious maiden outing in the initial Premier League season.

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Fredrik Ljungberg marked his debut with the final goal in a 3-0 win over Manchester United in September 1998, while Emmanuel Adebayor got off on the right foot away to Birmingham City in February 2006.

Samir Nasri and Thomas Vermaelen were on target in consecutive opening day wins over West Brom and Everton in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.