Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn has defended manager Mikel Arteta over his use of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a wide-forward role.
The Gabon international has not made the best start to the season, with just one goal in the Premier League so far, and none since the opening day of the season.
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Of course, Aubameyang is a good enough player that this is surely just a minor blip, but it has led to some debate about how Gunners boss Arteta has been using him in his line up.
Despite spending most of his career playing as an out-and-out striker, Aubameyang has often played on the left for Arsenal, and especially since Arteta became manager.
Winterburn, however, thinks this is a system that has mostly worked for his old club, though he believes it may also be worth moving Aubameyang more centrally in some games.
Discussing Aubameyang’s form and Arteta’s tactics, the former Arsenal left-back told the Metro: “People are talking about Aubameyang playing in the wide position and why didn’t he play up front in the loss to Manchester City.
“He’s never played consistently up front for Arsenal and all his goals have come from a wide position, but the focus does tend to come onto him when we have less possession and he gets less touches of the ball. That is going to happen if we can’t regain the ball quicker.
“Maybe Mikel Arteta will look at the bigger away games sticking Aubameyang upfront with two different wide players. He tried Willian there against City and that might happen in the future again.”