Alexandre Lacazette will make Arsenal debut in Sydney as Arsene Wenger takes aim at Alexis Sanchez

ARSENE Wenger has confirmed Alexandre Lacazette will make his Gunners debut in Sydney and he also expects Alexis Sanchez to honour his contract.

New Arsenal signing Alexandre Lacazette will make his Gunners debut in Sydney.

ARSENE Wenger has confirmed record signing Alexandre Lacazette will make his Gunners debut at ANZ Stadium, while the Arsenal manager also expects Alexis Sanchez to honour his contract.

The English Premier League giants arrived in Sydney by private jet on Tuesday morning for their pre-season tour of the city.

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Arsenal will play friendly matches against Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers this week and Wenger assured fans they will get their first glimpse of Lacazette, the club’s $80 million French striker.

“Lacazette will make his debut here, yes,” Wenger said. “On Thursday night (against Sydney FC) he will play a part, and in the other game also.”

New Arsenal signing Alexandre Lacazette will make his Gunners debut in Sydney.

Wenger was also quizzed about the future of star Chilean Sanchez, who has been rested from the tour following the Confederations Cup.

Sanchez has a year remaining on his contract, but has been linked with a move to Premier League rivals Manchester City.

“We’ll see,” Wenger said, while also denying Sanchez had requested to leave Arsenal. “Players have contracts and we expect them to respect their contracts. He could still extend his contract before the season or during the season, so it’s not necessarily the last year of his contract at

Arsenal football club.”

Arsenal are in Australia for the first time in 40 years and although the players were tired after their 21-hour journey to get here, Wenger expects a lively performance against the Sky Blues and Wanderers.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (right) with Western Sydney Wanderers coach Tony Popovic (left) and Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold.

“We are maybe not super lively at the moment because we’ve just come off the plane, but I promise you on Thursday night it will be different,” he said. “For us it’s a very important part of the season, that’s where we prepare how to be successful.”

While Wenger did most of the talking during the press conference, Sydney coach Graham Arnold did manage to explain why playing against Arsenal would be such an honour.

“It’s a football club that a lot of Australian coaches look at and admire, because of the way they play,” Arnold said. “We try to replicate in a lot of ways what they do. It’s an honour for our boys to walk out on Thursday night.”

And Wanderers coach Tony Popovic echoed those thoughts: “It’s a first for us to play someone as highly regarded as Arsenal in our short existence of five years,” he said. “We’re certainly looking forward to it. A game like this always helps the players.”

Originally published as Alexandre Lacazette will make Arsenal debut in Sydney as Arsene Wenger takes aim at Alexis Sanchez