Lacazette opens Arsenal account Down Under

New signing wastes no time in scoring his first goal as a Gunner

SYDNEY: France striker Alexandre Lacazette took only a quarter of an hour to get his first goal for Arsenal as the English Premier League club opened their pre-season tour with a 2-0 win over Sydney FC in front of 80,000 fans on Thursday.

The 26-year-old, who moved from Olympique Lyonnais this month for a fee British media put at £46.5m, paid an almost immediate dividend on his five-year deal at Sydney's Olympic Stadium.

Lacazette came on for his Arsenal debut as part of a 10-man substitution in the 68th minute and was on hand 15 minutes later to side-foot the ball into the net from winger Alex Iwobi's cutback.

"It is important for him to get that off his shoulders because you expect to score if you are a striker," manager Arsene Wenger told reporters. "You could see that he was happy but overall what we were looking for was to play at pace and to develop our collective game and for long periods in the game that was quite good for us."

Arsenal, who also play Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday before heading north to China, had taken an early lead when captain Per Mertesacker took advantage of some hesitancy in the Sydney FC defence to score with an overhead kick.

The Australian champions had goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne to thank for not succumbing to a heavier defeat as the 28-year-old, who had a two-week trial at Arsenal as a youngster, pulled off a string of fine saves.

"We had tough opposition because they fought for every ball but at the end of the day their goalkeeper was the man of the match," Wenger added.

One of Redmayne's saves was of a Danny Welbeck penalty but Wenger was overall pleased with the England striker's work-rate.

"I would say that he worked very hard," said Wenger. "He made many chances in the first half and was so keen to score that sometimes he looked too much for power. He put into the game what we expect of him. He's a great team player and I expect him to have big season. He was out for such a long time that I hope this will be a positive season for him."

Arsenal's other French striker, Olivier Giroud, also came on in the mass substitution despite speculation over his future with the North London club.

Wenger keeping tabs on Nelson

Wenger says teenager Reiss Nelson is "very close" to more first-team action after his dazzling performance in the Gunners' friendly win over Sydney FC.

The 17-year-old looked a star in the making as he ripped apart the Sydney FC defence with his pace and on-the-ball skills in Sydney on Thursday.

"Since I've been in the game I've understood that you either have that [confidence] at 17 years of age or you don't," Wenger told reporters after the match. "They all did well today, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock as well had a very strong performance. They are young, just 17 or 18 years old, so that is very promising."